WEST Malvern's hopes of the Crusader WCL Division Six title took a blow at Mathon Court when they were convincingly outplayed by an excellent Cleobury Mortimer side.

WEST MALVERN v CLEOBURY MORTIMER

West Malvern managed to stave off defeat and achieve a losing draw, thanks to an excellent partnership between Duncan Cooper and Eddie Bray, stalling Cleobury's progress.

Having won the toss, skipper Brian Pleass believed that restricting Cleobury to 207 in their 45 overs was enough to allow a good chance of victory, a fine century from Carbines and half-century from B Griffiths being the mainstay of the innings.

However, Cleobury's opening attack of Williams and Rowlands had other ideas as each bowed through their maximum 12 overs. After 24 overs, West Malvern had scored only 43 runs, for the loss of four major wickets

The remaining bowlers for Cleobury could not finish off the West Malvern tail, with the match petering out to a winning draw for Cleobury.