A COMMANDING opening partnership between Sam Roberts and Guy Davies laid the foundations for Worcester Nomads to Bewdley by eight wickets.

Set 223 to win the Worcestershire League Division One clash, Davies (84) and Roberts (45) put on 122 to help lift their team to third in the table.

Earlier, having been put in on a good batting track, Bewdley soon lost Nick Wilkinson, caught by Christian Elsden off Fredy Falson.

Elsden (3-25) then removed dangermen Paul Beard (19) and captain Rob Combes (11), both going to fine catches by Dannie Rees.

Ben Schiffmann bowled Gareth Lewis for an aggressive 36 and further resistance came from Ben Jones (36), Matt Cowdery (33) and Mike Harris (26), but all three fell to the spin of Rees (3-52).

The Bewdley tail wagged as they closed on 222-8.

Davies and Roberts forged a solid opening partnership of 122 in reply, before the latter fell for 45, caught and bowled by Jack Mills.

Mills then claimed the wicket of Davies for 84 but Jon Inglis (34 not out) and Elsden (41no) upped the tempo to reach the target with four overs to spare.

Droitwich Spa got back to winning ways in thrilling style against high-flying Worcester.

Chasing a mammoth 279 to win, captain Jerome Connor scored 121 as Spa won the game by four wickets to give them their best win of the season.

Worcester batted first on a slow, batsmen-friendly track but were soon reeling after the loss of Jack Horton (18) and, at half-way, were only 100-1.

Martin Davies came into the attack and picked up the occasional wicket but went at more than seven runs per over as Worcester raced towards 200.

Daniel McKay (86), Simon Keyte (78) and captain Liam Kelleher (51no) helped the hosts post 277-5.

Alex Harvey and Martin Woodward were the pick of the Droitwich bowlers, working well in tandem.

Maxwell Young, promoted to the top of the order, went for 12 before Connor joined Davies at the crease.

Davies made 41 before he holed out to long off but, once Paul Bryan went for seven, Spa still needed 150.

Ian Cottril hit a number of huge boundaries in his 32 before being run out in a mix-up with Connor.

The Droitwich skipper went on to reach his second century of the season and Andy Fletcher (29no) hit the winning runs.

Division One leaders Barnards Green, still without Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell, defeated Bromyard by eight wickets.

Malvern remain bottom of the table after a 17-run defeat at Stourbridge.

Division Four South leaders Old Vigornians beat Tenbury by 70 runs thanks to Nick Major’s unbeaten 122 and 6-52 from Will Smith.

Major is the first OVs batsman to reach 1,000 runs in a season for 25 years.