Kington forced a winning draw at Romsley to keep the pressure on Ombersley at the top of Division 1 in the Crusader Worcestershire County League.

They trail their rivals by eight points going into this weekend's crucial fixture between the pair at the Recreation Ground, after picking up 16 points, four fewer than Ombersley who recorded a five-wicket win at Chaddesley Corbett.

In the final analysis Kington were relieved to settle for the winning draw after Romsley had been in the driving seat at 171-4 chasing a target of 240. Owen Price (4-42 off 15 overs) ripped into the lower middle over, taking four wickets whilst just four runs were added.

From possible losers they were now potential winners, but only managed one more wicket as the last pair hung on for three overs to finish on 188-9. Earlier five of the top six Romsley batsmen passed 20 to set up the delicate finish, and Alan Butterworth took two wickets.

After losing their first two wickets for one run, Kington fought back with partnerships of 102 and 84 for the next two wickets. Dave Exall scored a fine 118 and was involved in both, first with Ed Symonds (40) and then Martin Powell (27). Wickets tumbled towards the end of the innings but Adam Herbert chipped in with an undefeated 15 to lift them to 239-8 at the close of their innings.

Brockhampton also failed to shift the last wicket pair and had to settle for a winning draw at home to Alvechurch to consolidate third spot.

After losing the toss they started slowly but opened up in the closing overs to reach 222-7, but after struggling to take the first wicket, gained control through the off-spin of Simon Crump and restricted the visitors to 143-9.

Nick Denny (25), Adam Hewlett (29) and Mohammad Ali (24) got the home side away to a solid start, they were 92-3 at the halfway point. Skipper Andrew Watkins (42) and Johnny Walker (34) added 67 for the sixth wicket and paved the way for Crump (31 off 28 balls) to give the run-rate a needed boost.

The Alvechurch openers looked comfortable against the normally potent opening attack of Ali and Richard Parker, and, with both openers scoring 30, the total reached 59 before the first wicket fell to Crump in the 17th over. The visitors soon lost interest in the win as Crump went on to take 4-37 off 14 overs.

With Ali (4-53) coming into his own in the second half of the innings, the home win looked more and more possible. The tail played steadily, however, and with the ninth wicket only going down in the final over, the draw was inevitable.

Luctonians missed the chance to lift themselves off the bottom of the table when they went down heavily at Stourbridge.

They lost by 91 runs to the side who started the game just one point above them after being bowled out for 176 chasing the home total of 267-8.

Opener Oliver Hill (77) batted well and, with four of his partners getting between 27 and 29, Stourbridge found themselves with the luxury of being able to declare with four of their 50 overs remaining.

Paul Davies (3-28) and Ed Rollings (2-80) were the pick of the Luctonians bowlers.

Duncan Platford (13), Greg Powell (23), Mark Lowden (16) and Henry Lort (17) all perished after getting set, but a useful partnership between Rollings (53) and James Platford (27) was starting to cause the home side a few problems when the pair passed 150.

But with three batsmen making ducks, Luctonians lost their last six wickets for just 26 runs and now look certainties for relegation.

Hill completed a good game for Stourbridge by taking four wickets.

Steve Emery's 64 helped to set up a winning position for Eastnor who went on to defeat Bewdley by 107 runs.

Adeel (24) and skipper Jabran (34) gave the villagers a solid start with Emery holding together the middle-order with good support from Faisal (21) and Christiaan Ferreira (20 not out).

Emery's son Josh, however, was probably not so appreciative of his father's innings as he was run out for a duck in a family mix-up.

The younger Emery's mood was doubtless improved after picking up a couple of early wickets in the Bewdley reply. Shahid (4-43) and Jabran (3-11) then finished the job, dismissing the visitors for 135 despite a brave performance by wicket-keeper C Rumsey who returned to bat after injury.