MALVERN II entertained Eastnor II on Saturday and came out surprisingly easy winners.

MALVERN II v EASTNOR II

The home side won the toss and asked Eastnor to bat on a good looking wicket. Cox and new recruit Steve Whittaker bowled in unison for the first 23 overs with both producing significant movement. Whittaker was unlucky not to pick up a wicket in his spell of 11 overs. Cox claimed the first four batsmen as Eastnor tried to up the run rate, as the overs ticked by.

An excellent all round performance by Malvern in the field turned the screw on Eastnor, as they found it hard to accelerate their score. Ray Evans took a particularly good diving catch to dismiss Nazeer with the score at 57-6.

This exposed the lower order and Cox continued unbeaten, eventually picking up six wickets for 29 runs off 22 overs. Supported by skipper Besgrove (4-16) Eastnor were all out for 80 off 43 overs, a score they felt was nowhere near what their team was capable of.

After a leisurely tea, Eastnor went on the attack immediately with a close field. However Dave Cox and Walwyn were immediately on top of things by scoring rapidly. Cox again showed his form by producing excellent timing and keeping up with Walwyn in running between the wickets.

After only seven overs, Malvern were nearly halfway there, when Cox top edged a well taken catch to Nazeer. Postans joined Walwyn, and immediately looked in complete control. There was not much wrong with Eastnor's bowling but Malvern's batsmen were on form and wanted to get the job done. Walwyn then edged a loping catch to Nazeer off Goodman but two balls later it was all over with Evans hitting a five, including four overthrows.

This summed Eastnor's day up with Malvern only needing 19 overs to win and claim 20 points. Thanks to Crusader Sports for sponsorship.