DROITWICH live to fight another day after defying relegation from Worcestershire County League Division One with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Eastnor – the third victory in four games with new captain Ian Cottrill.
It took Spa only 22 overs to chase down their victory target of 177 as Ash Fearnall laid siege to the visitors’ bowling with an array of power hitting.
He looked set for a deserved third century of the season before cruelly being dismissed just one run short of three figures and it was left for his opening partner Martyn Davies to guide his side to victory with an unbeaten 62.
There were plenty of highlights earlier in the day when Spa did well to restrict their fellow relegation rivals to a below par score.
Max Young grabbed a hat-trick on his way to a five-for while Phil Thomas collected 3-44.
Debutant Matt Gurr also claimed his first wicket at first-team level in an excellent five-over spell of 1-24.
With two games to go, Spa have closed the gap on Eastnor to 29 points but they remain 41 points shy of third-bottom Pedmore so require two maximum points wins and other results to go their way to avoid the drop.
Meanwhile, the Seconds edged closer to promotion and the Division Two Second XI title after a stylish unbeaten century from Paul Bryan guided them to a vital five-wicket win over rivals Chaddesley Corbett.
Spa need just 10 more points from their final two games to make sure of going up after Bryan creamed 11 fours in a sublime innings of 113 not out.
The veteran left-hander shared important partnerships with James King (27), Martin Keen (28) and 15-year-old Adam Keen, who batted with great maturity in making 22, as Droitwich overhauled Chaddesley’s score of 241-6 in the 47th over.
On Saturday the Firsts travel to Hagley while the Seconds play host to Bromsgrove.
