Birlingham 234-7 Tenbury 207-9

AFTER being in contention for a win up until the final four overs, Tenbury batted out for a losing draw at Penlu against Birlingham in Division 3 South of the Crusader Worcestershire County League.

The Birlingham openers compiled an opening partnership of 71 after being invited to bat before Andy Adams removed both batsmen in quick succession.

After Derek James made another breakthrough at 126 Birlingham tried to increase the tempo of the innings, trading runs for wickets. Ben Thompson finished with 3-52 off 15 overs whilst Adams went one better with 4-57 as Birlingham closed their innings on 234-7.

Tenbury were in early trouble as first Bob Felce perished in the opening over, and was soon joined in the pavilion by Tom Rawlings. Jon Pearson and Robin Downward shared a partnership of 77 in 15 overs to put the game back in the balance. When Downward was out for 26 it signalled a mini-colllapse, with skipper Jay Da Costa and Pearson (55) following soon after. Adams belted 34 to complete a fine performance, whilst Thompson and Ian Bowkett found the boundary a number of times to keep the win in sight.

Wickets fell at crucial times leaving youngster Jack Farrar to keep Thompson (23 no) company in the closing overs with Tenbury on a creditable 207-9.

The result was reversed at Birlingham where the Tenbury second string came away with a winning draw after batting first and scoring 236-5. Birlingham never looked like reaching their target as they lost wickets regularly, but batted out time to finish on 114-8.

Ian Taylor (35) and Paul Murphy (37) gave Tenbury a solid start before Mark Yarranton (91 no, 10x4's 3x6's) and Darren Thompson (45 no) blasted 130 off 14 overs towards the end of the innings. Thompson (3-34) and Jim Yeomans (2-24) made early inroads but Tenbury were unable to see off a defiant home side.