Barnards Green 235 all out (7pts)
Droitwich 236-7 (24pts)
Droitwich won by 3 wickets

DROITWICH clinched their second win in a row in Crusader Worcestershire League Division One.

Having lost the toss for the second week in succession, Spa were asked to field first on a blistering hot day.

Mike Rogers and the returning Karl Goddard opened the bowling, and bowled unchanged for the first 14 overs.

Both bowled good lines, and were unlucky not to pick up any wickets, as Chris Smedley and Kevin Golder took the score to 55.

The openers were looking comfortable, playing the change bowlers well, and bringing up a century opening stand in the 23rd over.

It took a mistake from Golder, hitting a full toss from Jake Young straight to Rogers, to break the stand.

With Golder gone, Young and Alex Harvey were able to bowl tightly in tandem, restricting the scoring opportunities, with Harvey being unlucky not to pick up a wicket.

Young, on the other hand, took the first five wickets, as Green were restricted to 178 with 10 overs remaining.

But with wickets in hand they were hopeful of scoring heavily in the final overs of the game.

However, Rogers returned to clean bowl Richard Williams and Paul Drinkwater, and crucially remove the dangerous Smedley for 93.

Young continued to bowl well, as only 56 runs were scored in the last 10 overs, finishing with 7-56 off 17 overs.

With Spa chasing a target of 236 to win, a good start was needed to settle any early nerves.

This was duly provided by openers Paul Bryan and Gary Cartwright, with Cartwright in particular looking to dominate the bowling from an early stage.

They took the score to 43 after 10 overs, with Cartwight having scored 38, before he was beaten by Williams.

This brought Jerome Connor to the crease who, with Paul Bryan looking more and more confident, added 73 for the second wicket, putting Spa in the driving seat, before falling for 28 runs.

With Droitwich needing 118 off 22 overs Neil Davies joined Bryan at the crease, scoring a quick-fire 33, sharing 55 in 10 overs with Bryan, who brought up his 50 in the 35th over.

Once Davies departed Bryan began to accelerate, and found support with Phil Hamilton (11) taking Droitwich to the brink of victory.

However when they both fell in quick succession, and Andrew Fletcher was run out, the game looked to be getting away from Spa, with 24 runs needed off 18 balls.

Yet the match turned again when Rogers hit a massive six, followed by a four in the 48th over.

With five runs needed off the final over, it was left to Goddard to steer Droitwich to a thrilling victory.

Spa host Bromyard this Saturday (1.30pm start).

Avoncroft picked up 16 points after earning a winning draw against Chaddesley in Division Two.

Croft were bowled out for 238 all out, and victory was in sight, but Chaddesley held on, finishing with 234-9.

Croft travel to Pedmore this Saturday (1.30pm start).