CRAIG Wood heeded his coaches' advice by seizing the moment as Kidderminster Victoria halted Birmingham League leaders West Bromwich Dartmouth in their tracks with a tremendous victory.

And skipper Jonathon Wright was in similarly inspirational form as he produced a man-of-the-match display with bat and ball during the deserved 29-run win.

Wood marked his return to the first team by weighing in with a vital 78 as KVCC's combination of craft and graft won through.

Captain Wright led by example with a knock of 72 as the Chester Road batsmen gave their bowlers a decent total of 251-5 to protect.

And Wright also set the tone with four wickets for 56 runs to help skittle the table-toppers out for 222.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Wright cranked KVCC into life despite losing opening partner Mark Mansell to the bowling of Sajjad for just nine runs.

Next man in Sean Lloyd was soon heading back to the pavillion when his promotion from the seconds ended with him being trapped lbw by Sajjad for a duck.

With the score at 16-2, KVCC feared for the worst, until Wood came to the rescue.

Head coach Ross Edwards and Co's decision to relegate the young batsman to the reserves to improve his run-rate paid off handsomely.

Having survived an early dropped catch, Wood got into his stride and gradually grew in confidence.

Wright and Wood played steadily, reaching the 100 mark in the 28th over before the captain was trapped lbw by Boroughs for 72, a knock that included 11 fours and a six.

While new batsman Peter Stevens launched a mighty attack on the West Bromwich bowling, Wood also kept on scoring and had reached a superb 78 when he was trapped leg before to Ali. He had hit nine fours.

Despite the loss of Wood some hefty hitting from Stevens - who made 45 from 30 balls with three fours and three sixes - took the score to 235-7 before he was caught by Sajjad off Ali's bowling.

Nigel Davenport also adopted an attacking approach, contributing an unbeaten 26 while Ted Baylis ended on 0 not out without facing a single ball as KVCC finished on 255-5.

Both Sjjad and Ali ended with figures of 2-72 while the other wicket fell to Boroughs for 44.

West Bromwich started well with Warwickshire player Moeen Ali, who is also the England Under-19s captain, and Harshad Patel taking the score to 65 before Patel was out lbw to Baylis for 14.

At 73, Baylis took his second wicket when keeper Tom Sherriff caught Boroughs for only seven.

The total had risen to 144 when Jones was stumped by Sherriff off leg-spinner Vishal Bhatia for 41.

Ali was looking comfortable and steadily increasing his personal tally.

Five runs later, Shukla was bowled by Wright for four and the visitors were looking uncomfortable at 149-4 with 30 overs bowled.

Wright and Bhatia were bowling very well and with the score on 170 Wright had DeSilva caught by Stevens for 12.

KVCC were getting on top, with Wright taking two more wickets. Kalair was caught by Sherriff for a duck, and Sajjad was stumped, also by Sherriff, for 9.

At 210-8 it looked bleak for West Bromwich, but Ali was still at the crease, although admittedly not scoring as freely as he was earlier.

Having reached his century he was out for 105 to a good catch by Stevens off Bhatia's bowling. He had hit 10 fours and three sixes.

Shah was run out for 13, and Davenport was brought into the attack and bowled Swainson with his fourth ball to win the game.

Wright was selected by the umpires as man-of-the-match for his batting and his bowling as he took 4-56. He had captained the team brilliantly.

Bhattia also bowled well taking 2-66. Baylis had figures of 2-49, but the final wicket went to Davenport at a cost of nothing. Wicket-keeper Sherriff had four dismissals to his credit.

Victory over the league leaders moves KVCC three places up the Premier Division and will give them lots of confidence when they host Coventry & North Warwick on Saturday.