Alcester opened their Heart of England with a 43 shot win over a Raven side who did the double over them last season.

The damage was done by Renny Bannister (21-10) and John Alderson and Dave Hovell (both 21-11).

This was enough to put the Raven to flight and they never recovered, Jean Bannister finished with a best card of 21-9.

In the return match at Raven, Bob Leresche got in the action with an excellent 21-11 and with two more wins by a similar margin from Alderson and Hovell, Alcester were in the driving seat and recorded a three shot win for maximum points from their opening games.

Two poor cards cost Alcester over 60s their opener at Colebrook.

Keith Bryan was best for Alcester with 21-13 with only Eric Laight pulling off another win at 21-20 as the squad went down by 18 shots.

In the cup, against a Co-op team two divisions higher, Alcester suffered a disastrous defeat on the neutral green of Bourneville Sports.

Only Gordon Lycett offered resistance but eventually went down 18-21 as the squad crashed out of the competition by 63 shots.

Alcester maintained their good start to the Northfield League season with a whitewash over Wythall.

The hosts piled on a 60 shot winning margin to take all 10 league points.

Chris Hollins (21-8) and John Alderson (21-9) had the best cards but the whole team must take credit.

The return proved disappointing with Alcester only able to manage two wins from Terry Rawings 21-11 and Dave Hovell 21-15 as they went down by 25 shots, with two league points to Wythall's eight.

Alcester faced a stiff draw against first division M&B, two divisions higher, in the Northfield Cup.

The away four players did well to hold M&B and eventually went down by just 15 shots after John Alderson had pulled of a good 21-9 card.

But the home four lost by one shot despite Ken Harvey's excellent 21-7 and crashed out.