AFTER a few flutters at the start of their innings, Kington eased themselves to a five-wicket win against Alvechurch at the Recreation Ground.

The 20-point haul kept the pressure on Ombersley at the head of Division 1 in the Crusader Worcestershire County League. Ombersley picked up the same points from their five-wicket win at Droitwich to retain their six-point lead.

Kington backed up their decision to insert Alvechurch with an energetic fielding display to support their bowlers. The bowlers themselves were on the mark from the start, Adam Herbert and Alan Butterworth opening with six maidens. The pair took three quick wickets after making the initial breakthrough at 28.

Skipper Duncan Morgan turned to his spinners after the visitors had recovered to 78-3 at the mid-innings drinks break. Tom Brierley shifted both G Wilde who made a patient 22, and Lakshitha for a fluent 45, to open the floodgates.

Alvechurch were then bowled out for 141 in the 45th over, with Brierley (4-34) and Owen Price (2-27), plus an Ed Symonds run out, accounting for the last seven wickets.

Any thoughts that the run-chase would be achieved at a canter were soon dashed as Lakshitha produced a deadly opening spell to reduce Kington to 36-5.

But Martin Powell and the reliable Sam Williams (36) knuckled down and broke the back of the job with a partnership of 74. Price joined Powell (58) to see off a final burst from Lakshitha (4-48) and secure the win in the 34th over.

Positive batting and a flurry of wickets in mid-innings when they bowled, almost brought Luctonians their first win of the season against Bewdley at Mortimer Park.

After scoring 268-6, they reduced Bewdley to 116-8 in the 37th over but were only able to take one more wicket and the visitors hung on at 144-9.

Greg Powell (82) and Duncan Platford (13) got the innings off to a positive start with a partnership of 68. Ed Rollings (66) and James Platford (68 not out) came together after a collapse had seen them lose five wickets for 71 runs. They shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 114 to get the innings back on track.

After J Boult (34) and S Mauger (47) were parted at 55, Vinnie Kay (3-70) and Ollie Williams (2-35) took wickets at regular intervals to leave Bewdley 109-5 with fewer than 20 left and in need of a big partnership.

At this point Paul Davies was introduced into the attack and proceeded to take a wicket in each of his first three overs to demolish their chances.

He was unable to polish off the tail, finishing with 3-2 from five overs, and the last pair batted out to deny the home team that elusive win.

The local derby at Eastnor was totally dominated by Brockhampton all-rounder Mohammed Ali, but for all his effort the game ended in a draw.

He scored 114 out of the Brockhampton total of 219-5 when his side batted first, and followed this up with 5-64 with the ball as Eastnor struggled to 168-8.

The recent Brockhamp-ton run feast appeared to be under threat as Shahid (2-60) and Adeel (1-12) reduced them to 18-3 in the early stages of their innings.

Ali, with the aid of a couple of dropped chances and in partnership with his skipper Andy Watkins, turned the innings around. When Jim Sandford (2-67) got rid of Watkins for 28, Johnny Walker (56 not out) took on the support role to take the score past 200 before Ali became Sandford's second victim.

The Eastnor reply got off to an almost mirror image of the visitors' start, Ali helping himself to all three wickets with a blistering opening spell. Skipper Jabran found a solid partner in Steve Emery (11) before the latter became Ali's fourth victim.

Shahid (24) helped Jabran (36) to see out most of the innings before they fell to Richard Parker (2-73) and Adam Hewlett (1-14) respectively.

Eastnor lost a couple of late wickets but Adeel (38), coming in late in the order and batting with the aid of a runner after picking up an injury in the field, ensured that the home side held on for a losing draw.