KIDDERMINSTER couldn't get the better of rivals Leamington Spa and finished up on the wrong end of a drawn contest in Birmingham League Premier One.

The Spa side set a daunting total to chase of 309 for six with Kidderminster responding on 270 for eight at close.

Initially Kidderminster were well placed as Spa were reduced to 79 for four before the innings turned on its head.

Oxfordshire's highly rated Oliver Currill cracked an imperious 137 while West Indies star Shane Dowrich smacked a further 116 not out.

Consequently, Kidderminster's bowling attack was put to the sword with Matt Pardoe who took two for 79 and Liam Weston with two for 102 being the most successful.

Kidderminster made a solid start with the bat in reply through Andy Kimberlin 27, Sinel Gunarathne 24 and Vikai Kelley 25.

But it was skipper Neil Pinner who saved the day, the former Leicestershire and Worcester all rounder digging his side out of a hole with a boundary laden 95 off just 72 balls.

Pinner plundered 12 fours and three sixes and found support from Barney Morgan, the pair putting on 131 for the seventh wicket.

The partnership proved enough to claim the draw in the face of some accurate bowling by Jonathan Wigley with three for 54 while Matthew Davison took three for 23.

Worcestershire pinch-hitter Ed Pollock produced the more patient side of his game as he plundered a pulsating 158 off 177 balls.

Pollock provided the platform for second placed Barnt Green to beat top of the table Smethwick by 113 runs.

Set a target of 308 for six to chase down, Smethwick found themselves bowled out for 195 with four overs to spare.

Pollock proved in brutal form with the bat scoring 16 fours and four sixes.

He found support from Worcestershire team mate Jacques Banton who added 55 as the Green piled on the runs.

Warwickshire's Manraj Johal did his best to try and stem the flow of runs by taking three for 72.

But Smethwick were soon in trouble when they replied and were rapidly reduced to 28 for three.

Bilal Shafayat struck a defiant 82 not out but lacked sufficient support and eventually ran out of partners.

Once again, strike bowler Andy Sutton proved in supreme form with the ball by taking five for 55 off 15.5 overs and was well backed up by Robbie Shurmer with three for 32 while Jacques Banton bagged three for 23.

The Green have now closed the gap on Smethwick which is down to just three points ahead of this Saturday's trip to Ombersley while Kidderminster head for Halesowen who will be hugely boosted by their emphatic five wicket win over Knowle and Dorridge.

Eddie Rhodes was in outstanding form with the ball as Knowle and Dorridge were rolled out for 121 in the 34th over.

Rhodes reaped figures of four for 50 and was well backed up by James Rudge with two for 23, Ed Bragg three for 30 and Billy Jo Cox one for 15.

Halesowen didn't have matters all their own way in reply and were reduced to 69 for five at one stage after Warwickshire's Ethan Brookes created early damage when claiming three for 43 while Jack Grundy picked up two for 22.

Simon Gregory then held firm supplying 38 not out while wicketkeeper Wes Griffiths kept him company on 32 not out to help Halesowen home on 122 for five in the 31st over.

Himley lost ground in the Premier Two title race after suffering defeat from Walsall.

Former Worcestershire player Ollie Westbury walloped 90 with the bat while Ollie Walker added 67, the pair putting on 98 for the fourth wicket as Himley went onto make 246 for nine.

Jordan Bulpitt pulled matters back with the ball for Walsall by taking five for 60, finishing the innings off with a hat trick while Ravan Chahal took three for 38.

Walsall made an indifferent star to their reply, losing the key wicket of Warwickshire's Chris Benjamin at 53 for two.

Overseas player Om Bhosale then took over and struck 100 off 117 balls.

In a tense finish, Walsall required 24 from 15 balls before Bulpitt and Mateen Khan saw them over the line.

Bromsgrove were blown away by Lichfield after being bowled out for just 83.

Riley Ward with five for 17 and James Wilkinson who took four for 41 left the Bromsgrove innings in tatters.

Tom Swift then struck 55 not out while Tom Stone added 25 not out as Lichfield cantered home to a 10 wicket win taking only 12.3 overs to achieve their objective.

The irony was that Lichfield had Leicestershire's in-form all rounder Ben Mike in their ranks, but he wasn't required to either bat or bowl.

Himley head for Barnards Green this Saturday while Bromsgrove host Bridgnorth.