AVONCROFT CC First XI are all but out of the Worcestershire County League division four promotion race after putting on their worst performance of the season in crashing to a six-wicket defeat at Tenbury last Saturday.

Croft never recovered from a poor start, which saw them stumble to 7-3 after being put into bat by the team third from bottom.

Paul Athey's side slip to fourth in the table but are 27 points behind Dominies and Guild, who occupy the second promotion spot, with only two home games left.

Athey said: "It was not good. It pretty much puts us out of it. We still have a chance and we will keep fighting but realistically we are probably out of it."

The skipper put defeat down to a one-off poor display from just about everybody concerned.

"It was just one of those days when everything went wrong," he said. "We lost three quick wickets and were playing catch up for much of the game.

"The batsmen didn't bat very well and the bowlers did not bowl very well. Every team gets one game like this a season."

But it is the lost ground on the league leaders that is most frustrating for Paul.

He added: "We would have beaten Tenbury nine times out of ten.

"Now we are relying on other teams to slip up and that's not the position you want to be in."

After the poor opening, Craig Southwick (31) helped to stage a mini fightback with Athey (24), Wayne Pugh (21) and Adam Rodway adding some useful lower order runs.

But Croft's final total of 124 was always going to be difficult to defend.

Just to prove it was not their day, the visitor's poor performance with the bat was mirrored by their bowlers, who struggled to find any sort of line and length early on.

Spinners Spencer George and Anthony Pittam were the pick of the bowlers but their efforts were not enough to stop Tenbury strolling to a comfortable victory.

In their final two games, Avoncroft host Old Vigornians this Saturday and Claverley the Saturday after.

.