DROITWICH battled the elements to put in a solid performance and claim a losing draw against Romsley and Hunnington in Crusader Worcestershire League Division One.

In a rain-affected game, the match was reduced to 35 overs which produced some attacking cricket from both teams.

Romsley batted first and showed their intent early on with opening batsman Paul Morgan being positive against Spa’s opening attack.

However, Karl Goddard showed his experience by pushing through a quicker ball which resulted in a leading edge and gave Spa their first breakthrough after a comfortable catch by Mike Rogers.

Romsley continued to attack the ball, but Goddard again restricted their run rate with good bowling and regular wickets.

Goddard, brilliantly backed up in particular by Ian Cottril in the field, bowled well and ended with figures of 2-22. Neil Davies was also impressive in difficult circumstances against a strong batting side.

Paul Pickering was the pick of the Romsley batsmen with a brilliant 107.

He hit the ball hard to all parts of the ground and gave few chances until Paul Bryan, bowling at the death, proved too slow and Pickering holed out on the boundary edge to the last ball of his side’s innings.

Romsley reached 205 from their 35 overs for the loss of six wickets.

Droitwich’s reply started well with openers Gary Cartwright and James Hancher making easy runs.

Hancher showed his class by taking both opening bowlers on and hitting the boundary regularly.

Only a silly run-out slowed the Droitwich reply when Cartwright was dismissed in the fifth over for eight.

Captain Jerome Connor again fell early, lbw to Painter for nought, so it was down to Bryan to steady the innings, which he did in a composed innings of 59.

Hancher fell for 38, which brought Cottril to the wicket, and he batted well with Bryan as both batsmen scored quickly.

They looked to be pushing Droitwich towards a well-deserved win, but when Cottril fell for 34, Spa’s run-chase looked to be over.

Bryan worked hard to increase the rate with good support from ex-captain Andy Flecther, but fell just short of the victory target when the score was on 173-5.

Spa couldn’t quite kick on to seal the victory, so had to settle for a losing draw in a hard-fought match.