DROITWICH captain Ian Duggan shepherded his side to a three-wicket win at home to Luctonians in the Worcestershire Coun-ty League Division 2 with just three balls to spare.

Chasing a target of 199, he came in at the fall of the first wicket in the first over and was still there on an undefeated 119 at the end.

Consistent batting mixed with some inconsistent running was the key to the Luctonians' knock. Seven batsmen reached double figures and five batsmen were run out as the visitors ended their innings on 198-9.

Opener Dave Price (51), Greg Powell (37) and Michael Jeh (27) were the major run-makers.

Jeh took a wicket in his first over when Droitwich replied, but this only brought Duggan to the crease to dominate the rest of the game. He added 66 with opener B Hawkins, but then steady bowling appeared to have put Luctonians back in contention at 129-5. Duggan controlled the rest of the innings to steer his team home at 199-7.

Jeh bowled unchanged to finish with 3-79 off 25 overs, whilst Powell (2-34) and Scott (2-37) were the other wicket-takers.

In spite of a relative failure from the prolific run-maker Ashley Bullock (22), the Bromyard batting, led by Australian Chris Hyndes, was in fine form at Hagley Hall as they recorded their fifth winning draw of the campaign.

Nick Hitchings produced another fine bowling performance but for the third time this season they failed to part the last-wicket pair.

Bullock and Ed Oliver (37) put on 40 for the first wicket before Hyndes came to the crease to control the rest of the innings. After Oliver had departed at 91, Matt Bullock (37) joined him in a partnership of 108, and then Mark Benbow (10) in an unbroken stand of 44 for the fifth wicket. The innings closed on 243-3 with Hyndes undefeated on 113, which included eight fours and five sixes.

When Hagley replied, Hitchings was soon amongst the wickets and bowled unchanged throughout the innings to finish with 7-54 off 25 overs. Despite the best efforts of the support bowlers, only Ashley Bullock (2-23) was able to break through the defences of the home team.

Shahid figured prominently with bat and ball once again as Eastnor recorded a comfortable 118-run home victory over Martley in Division 2. The maximum 24 points takes them into second spot, 12 points behind leaders Evesham.

He scored 43 with the bat and, with solid double-figure contributions from most of his colleagues, the home team were able to post a competitive 220-8.

Nick Bollen (28 no) and Keith Fortey (24) were the pick of the rest of the line-up. C Hopkins (4-49) did most of the damage with the ball for Martley.

The visitors were always struggling against the pace of Shahid (5-28) and the off-spin of Jabran (4-16) and were all out for 102.

Brockhampton maintained their recent run of good form to produce the result of the day in Division 2. Evesham's last-wicket pair had to survive the last nine balls to salvage a losing draw from a game they would have expected to dominate.

Jon Cook (60) built a steady platform with fellow opener Graham Parker against the dangerous Evesham opening attack. After they had weathered the storm, Nick Price (40) increased the tempo, and then experienced campaigners Richie Price (35) and Robin Williams (22) flayed the visiting attack with an unbroken stand of 50 from the final five overs.

Price then joined up with Roy Wargen to ensure that the good work before tea was not spoiled.

Wickets fell regularly as the Evesham batsmen attempted to break free of the shackles imposed by the pair. The day was only spoiled by the failure to take the last wicket as Price finished with 4-66 off 19 overs and his partner, 3-30.