PERSHORE gained an emphatic nine-wicket victory when they entertained old rivals, Droitwich at The Bottoms in Worcestershire League Division One.

After winning the toss, visiting skipper Jerome Connor decided to bat on a good wicket but, with the exception of Jake Young (91), few of the Droitwich batsmen made use of the facilities.

Spa got off to a comfortable start with Connor promoting himself to the opener birth after Neil Wright suffered another injury set back.

After the loss of several wickets, Matt Briggs came to his side’s rescue as he played a sensible innings, scoring freely to reach 34 and put on 87 with Young for the fifth wicket.

Taking five wickets for the second week running, Lee Wilks (5-30) bowled with great control for Pershore, so Droitwich were only able to post 200-9 from their allotted 50 overs.

In their reply, the Pershore openers were again in outstanding form with Liam Ridings (78) and David White (85 not out) putting together an opening stand of 121.

After Liam Ridings was dismissed by the cleverly-disguised googly of Martin Woodward following an aggressive innings from just 53 balls, White was joined by Chris Ridings and the pair saw Pershore home with 13 overs to spare for the loss of just one wicket, giving the home side a maximum 24 points to move them back to second place in the league.

Spa, on the other hand, must pick themselves up for another touch test next week at home to high-flying Worcester Nomads.