A TITANIC battle at Coombs Wood saw Avoncroft Seconds win by two wickets in the Worcestershire County League Division Four.

On a wicket offering dangerously high bounce, the homesters were asked to bat and unsurprisingly started tentatively.

With captain Paul Athey whistling the ball past the openers' helmets and Andy Pittam giving nothing away, Wood were restricted to 13 runs in 12 overs.

The breakthrough came when Athey changed to medium paced away-swingers. Four more quick wickets, shared equally between Athey (3-7) and Pittam (2-22), reduced the hosts to 28-5 until Bagley (21) began to take the attack to the Croft bowlers.

Fourteen-year-old Jimmy Deakin was desperately unlucky not to take a wicket with the best five-over spell of his career.

But it was left to Spencer George to get Croft back on track.

The off-spinner finished with 3-19 and, backed up by leg-spinner Anthony Pittam (2-11), Croft bowled out their hosts for 76.

The reply could not have started much worse as Badger ripped out the top order taking four wickets for one run, leaving Croft 11-4. Pete Whitehead and Athey were faced with an uphill battle but they put on 37 in six overs before Athey was bowled by spinner Nawaz for 21.

Whitehead eventually fell for 25 with his side needing just one more run to win.