BROCKHAMPTON batsman Johnny Walker hammered a rapid unbeaten century in the leaders' winning draw against visiting Astwood Bank in a top-of-the-table clash in the Crusader Worcestershire County League Division 2.

The free-scoring Walker, batting at number four, clouted 14 fours and two sixes in an outstanding 112 not out, which propelled Brockhampton to a daunting 292-4.

Opener Graham Parker (44) also got among the runs for Brockhampton, who batted superbly against a side who were second in the table before the match.

An opening stand of 49 between Nick Denny (31) and Graham Parker laid the bedrock of the Brockhamp-ton innings.

Astwood suffered a triple setback at the start of their innings when fast bowler Mahmood Malik tore through the top order, reducing the visitors to 15-3.

However, the early breakthroughs proved to be something of a false dawn for Brockhampton because Sealey (54) and Freeman (52) offered stern resistance and the visitors recovered well to close on 202-4.

Malik finished on 3-60 from 15 overs and, despite using six bowlers in total, Brockhampton struggled to expose the visitors' middle-order. Brockhampton collected 13 points for the draw and are 71 points ahead of second-placed Bewdley.

Despite a battling innings from vice-captain Ashley Brown, struggling Hereford City remain second-bottom after crashing to a seven-wicket defeat against Stourport at the Racecourse.

In fact, an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 98 between Brown (76 not out) and Toby Whitmarsh (30) not out) rescued the Hereford innings after they had slid to 120-7.

Opener Ben Mason (42), Alistair Thomas (25) and David Price (24) all batted well for Hereford before Brown and Whitmarsh combined to steer the city club to a competitive 219-7.

The total failed to test the Stourport batsmen, however, with David Cook (70), Brian Colley (45) and Neil Bailey (27 not out) featuring heavily as the visitors cruised home in the 39th over.