BROCKHAMPTON maintained their steady rise in Division 1 of the Crusader Worcestershire County League when they recorded a comfortable 76-run win over local rivals and league leaders Kington at the Recreation Ground.

Consistent batting down the order, backed up by the in-form bowling of Richard Parker and Mohammed Ali, were the ingredients for the surprisingly one-sided result which lifted them to fifth place in the table.

Nick Denny (29) and Dave Mokler got the Brockhamp-ton innings off to solid start with a partnership of 58 after losing the toss. Adam Hewlett (62) then joined Mokler (44) to take the score past three figures.

Ali went cheaply but skipper Andrew Watkins (18) kept the scoreboard ticking over. Hewlett finally departed for a top score of 62 and it was left to Johnny Walker (34 no) to push the final total to 217-6 at the close of the innings.

Alan Butterworth was the pick of the Kington bowlers with 3-32.

The Kington reply was in trouble from the start against Ali and Parker. Sam Williams (20) offered Ed Symonds temporary support after a disastrous start, but when he was out the score became 85-5.

Symonds battled on to make a painstaking 45, but the only other significant scorers were Owen Price (14) and an undefeated 21 from Adam Herbert as the home side were bowled out for 141 in the 46th over.

Parker bowled unchanged to take 5-71 off 23 overs while Ali was rested after 17 overs that yielded 4-46.

Some consolation for Kington was that their closest rivals, Ombersley, suffered their first defeat of the campaign by six wickets away to Eastnor, and so Kington stay top, albeit by a single point from Stourbridge who are galloping up the table.

Eastnor, who have been struggling recently, looked to be heading for another uncomfortable afternoon when Ombersley reached 120-0.

But at that point their fortunes changed and they proceeded to bowl out the Worcestershire side for 200, and then knocked off the runs for the loss of four wickets with three overs to spare.

P Burdon (88) and C Flowers (67) gave Ombersley a flying start before the latter was caught and bowled by Jim Sandford. Fellow spinner Jabran then took over to claim 5-58 off 16 overs and received good support from Shahid (4-27) as the leaders were bowled out in 48 overs.

Adeel (67) dominated the early part of the Eastnor reply before being first out at 103 to start a mini-collapse as two more wickets fell quickly including his partner Arshad (27). Jabran (37) helped Steve Emery add 75 to take Eastnor to within sight of victory before being bowled by Catterall. Shahid (18 no) then joined Emery (42 no) to steer Eastnor home.

Luctonians suffered their eighth defeat of the season after being bowled out for 141 in reply to Alvechurch & Hopwood's 205 all out at Mortimer Park.

Alvechurch batted consistently down the order after their skipper won the toss and elected to bat, with six of their batsmen scoring between 19 and 32.

Small consolation for the home side was that they at least took maximum bowling points with Ed Rollings (4-50 off 10.4 overs), Oliver Williams (4-73 off 18) and Vinnie Kay (2-58 off 17) doing the damage.

Skipper Duncan Platford (30) batted patiently with his only support coming from Rollings (16) and then his son James who scored 35 out of a partnership of 51 for the fifth wicket.

Kay (14) was the only other double-figure contributor as Luctonians lost by 64 runs. Sri Lankan quick-bowler Chamilla took 6-53 and M Curtice, 3-25, for the winners.