A DEVASTATING spell of fast bowling from Pakistani all-rounder Zahid Saeed inspired fourth-placed Bromyard to a convincing eight-wicket home win over Herefordshire rivals Kington in the Crusader Worcestershire County League Division 1.
Pace-ace Saeed finished with outstanding figures of 8-31, propelling him to 51 league wickets for the season, and Kington were shot out for just 68.
After being put in to bat, Kington progressed to 24-1 before Saeed got a slice of the action, bowling David Exall for 14 and then removing visiting captain Steve Williams for five.
The crucial dismissal of Ed Symonds, caught behind off Nick Hitchings for 15, left Kington in deep trouble at 38-4.
Owen Price top scored for Kington with 19, but the visitors' innings was blown apart by Saeed and Hitchings, who snapped up 2-36.
Bromyard then lost both openers with 19 runs on the board, including Matt Bullock, who was lbw to Robbie Symonds for 12. But Saeed crowned a superb individual display with a calm undefeated 22 and the home side cruised to the target in 12.4 overs.
A superb unbeaten 104 from all-rounder Shahid could not prevent sixth-placed Eastnor from slipping to an exciting five-wicket home defeat to table-topping Evesham.
Although Dan Baker made 31 and Arshad, 28, Eastnor lost a further three wickets for very few runs until Shahid arrived at the crease to stage a brave fight-back.
Nick Bollen gave Shahid welcome support with a fine 27 and the home side closed on an impressive 260-7 against an excellent attack led by Ian Prince (3-57) and former Worc-estershire and England Test bowler Neal Radford (2-45).
Evesham made a flying start in pursuit of the target, hammering 19 runs from the opening two overs.
The visitors' innings included important contributions from S Berry (59), G Lewis (38) and I Stowe (28) before Radford arrived in the middle with his side in a strong position.
Eastnor staged a late rally, grabbing a couple of wickets, but Radford struck 46 not out which steered the title chasers home with eight balls remaining.
Lowly Luctonians' disappointing season continued with a three-wicket away defeat against basement club Pedmore, who chalked up their first victory of the campaign.
Despite a quick-fire 31 from Australian all-rounder Alan Butter-worth, who smashed six fours and a six in a his lusty 32-ball knock, and Steve Heathcote's solid 36, the Kingsland-based club lost wickets regularly and were shot out for just 133 in 44.1 overs.
Quick bowler Gobbi posed major problems for ninth-placed Luctonians, taking 5-39 from 16 overs and he was backed up by M Smith, who claimed 3-65.
Butterworth then shone with the ball for Luctonians as Pedmore slumped to 55-4 but a 59-run fifth-wicket stand for the home side proved crucial in such a low-scoring match.
Butterworth finished with excellent figures of 6-68 from 15 overs, but Gobbi (17 not out) steered the bottom club to their first win in the 34th over.
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