MALVERN travelled to Lye on Bank Holiday Monday and produced an excellent all round performance to gain their third consecutive winning draw.

LYE v MALVERN

Malvern batted first in a game reduced to 37 overs because of rain and lost Mark Baugh early on. Luke Halion and Richard Neale then produced a splendid partnership of 122 before Halion was adjudged lbw for 57, his second in succession.

Neale fell a couple of runs short of a deserved 50 but at 164-3 Malvern were in a strong position which was strengthened even further once Rob Francis came to the wicket.

He completely dominated the bowlers with some scintillating batting to go to 59 in a remarkable 27 balls, surely one of the fastest 50s in league history. Steve Carter and Paul Young batted well at the end to take the score to 233.

For the third game in a row, the opposing batsmen seemed incapable of scoring much against Malvern's pace attack. Francis and Neale bowled superb spells to take Malvern to the brink of victory, however a win was denied when a clear run out was adjudged not out by one of Lye's players acting as umpire at square leg.

However, Malvern can take heart from another superb all round performance and if they keep performing at this level will surely move up the table.