DROITWICH face a crucial trip to Eastnor this weekend as they look to push away from the danger zone in the Worcestershire League Division One.
The Spa side remain six points clear of the relegation places as they head to basement side Eastnor but they will be looking to lift spirits after a crushing 183-run home defeat to Colwall last Saturday when they were shot out for just 72.
Only Jez Hanson and Jonny Keen made double figures as an under-strength Spa side weren’t able to recover from losing three key batsmen in the first five overs of their reply to the visitors’ 255-7.
Martyn Davies, Ash Fearnall and Jordan Renau all perished cheaply before Droitwich slumped to 41-8 prior to some lusty late blows from Keen.
Keen had earlier opened the bowling and battled gamely into a strong wind to return 2-36 from 10 overs.
Stand-in skipper Davies conceded just 19 runs from his quota but a half-century from Nick Brown set the platform for captain Ben Wheeler to whack an unbeaten 49 as Colwall took full advantage of having wickets in hand at the end of their innings.
An opening stand of 87 between Joe Blight (25) and Brown (64) gave them the platform to kick on before Brown and Cooke put on 68 for the second wicket.
The <b>Seconds</b> remain in the promotion places despite losing top spot to Belbroughton in 2nd XI Division Two after rain forced their clash with Bromyard to be abandoned.
Chasing 229, Spa were 65-3 after 17 overs before the predicted cloudburst ended proceedings early just three overs short of a positive result.
Dan Masters (108 not out) and Nick Leighton (76) provided the mainstay of the Bromyard innings as they put on 152 for the second wicket.
Captain Karl Goddard took the only two wickets to fall in a miserly 10-over spell that conceded just 16 runs but would have been happy with the target considering the short boundaries at the Herefordshire ground.
Despite the rain curtailing play, there was a result in the Thirds’ match with victory going to Redditch, whose Dan Protherough made 119 as his side posted 270-8 to win with a superior run rate.
With stand-in skipper Peter Gurr (59 not out) and the returning Greg Mazgajczyk (44 not out) well set, Spa reached 141-2 from 31 overs and needed 130 from 14 to win when the weather intervened – a tough task but by no means impossible.
The Thirds and Fourths, whose trip to Redditch was called off last weekend, take on Pershore on Saturday, when the Seconds entertain Chaddesley Corbett at St Peter’s Fields.
