ALVECHURCH'S slimline cricketers may have beaten the odds to reach the Worcestershire County League Cup final but they were unable to overcome a strong Evesham side on Monday night.

The Division Two underdogs were chasing honours on two fronts after their successful charity bid to shed the extra pounds over winter but now they are left to concentrate on winning a second successive promotion.

John Rose's men had achieved their passage to the Kidderminster CC final at the expense of lower league opponents in the form of fourth division Harborne and third division Lye and Belbroughton but against the county league's top team they came up short.

It started promisingly with Rose winning the toss and opting to bat on an excellent wicket.

Openers Matt Hayward and Jimmy Clifford smashed 19 off the first over as a statement of intent but would never have been unable to keep up that pace and the run rate slowed before Hayward fell, edging to the wicketkeeper in the third over.

The captain came in to partner Clifford but neither were able to break some tight bowling as the run rate dropped, despite a swashbuckling 12 in three balls from Clifford in the fifth of 15 eight ball overs.

It proved to be the opener's swansong as his wickets were sent flying nine balls later.

James Sidaway joined the fray and batted out a steady innings alongside Rose but Evesham kept things tight for the remainder of the game and, despite the captain smashing a six and a trio of boundaries late on, 159 looked unlikely to be enough.

Jon Gregory and Stuart Berry started putting on the runs at a steady rate for Evesham until Gregory fell lbw in the fifth over to be replaced by Ian Stowe.

But halfway through the reply, Evesham wavered, unable to beat an economical spell from the underdogs and falling short of the run rate for three overs.

After being handed a glimmer of hope, the game turned decisively in Evesham's tenth over when Stowe smashed two sixes.

He was clean bowled by a defiant Rose in the following over and the Alvechurch skipper roared defiance as he sent Richard Layton packing in the 13th but the underdogs could do nothing as Evesham reached their target with an over to spare.

Fourth placed Church return to league duty at home to leaders Brockhampton on Saturday (2pm start) looking to bridge a seven point gap on the top two and get back on track following Saturday's winning draw against lowly Cookley.