EXPERIENCED batsman John Duffy has registered the record individual score at the King’s School ground in Worcester – but ended up on the losing team.

The 50-year-old opener carried his bat for 205 as Bromsgrove Fourths piled up 319-5 from 45 overs in a top-of-the-table match in the Worcestershire League Division Four Second XI.

It was the highest individual score by a batsman at the ground in 132 years and Duffy’s achievement sees him win a £25 Fearnley Factory Shop voucher as the latest Worcester News player of the week.

Duffy certainly feels at home at the New Road surroundings – he also scored a century at the ground 10 years ago playing for Worcestershire Gentlemen.

But Rizwan Ashraf also flourished in Saturday’s clash, hitting 121 not out to lead Old Vigornians to a seven-wicket triumph in the 41st over.

Duffy said: “I had not played for seven weeks because of holidays — and family commitments only allow me to play six or seven times a season.

“I was not overly late but I had just parked up the car and the skipper immediately told me to put on the pads. The pitch was a bit green but it played well.

“I have scored centuries before and I made one at the same ground 10 years ago — but I didn’t think it was possible to score 200 runs in a match.

He added: “My previous best was 140 against Himley but this was one of those days when the ball came off the bat nicely.”

Duffy cracked eight sixes and 15 fours and says he offered just one chance — a catch behind which was dropped by the Old Vigornians wicketkeeper.

He admitted: “We knew that we had to score more than 250 to be competitive and I told the players at tea that we were not home and dry.

“It was an important game – it was a chance for us to clinch promotion — and I still think we can do it.”