WORCESTER'S Old Elizabethans remained on the edge of the Birmingham and District Cricket League Division Two promotion race after beating off-form Tamworth.

OEs seamers Hemaka Pathirinage (4-25) and Liam Booth (4-26) combined to dismiss Tamworth for 125 in 46.4 overs before an unbeaten 51 from Ashley Bullock and 38 from Jamie Boyle saw them home by eight wickets.

Kidderminster cruised to a seven-wicket Premier Division win over Knowle and Dorridge after chasing down a revised target of 240 with more than four overs in hand.

Tom Smith (61 not out) and Alex Phillips (61) saw Knowle to 223-7 in 40 overs before Matt Pardoe (91no) and Craig Wood (91) picked off the visitors’ attack.

England under 19s and Worcestershire left-arm spinner Ben Twohig took 4-11 as Leamington were dismissed for 127 at Arlington Avenue but the bottom club made Wolverhampton fight all the way for victory.

They squeezed home by two wickets thanks to 45 from another England Under 19 player in Worcestershire’s Zen Malik.

Former County player Kadeer Ali battled his way to 45 in 103 balls for West Bromwich Dartmouth at Ombersley, who responded to the visitors’ total of 138-9 with a disappointing 63 all out.

Aaron Patel (6-35) reduced an Ombersley side containing two current first-class players to 14-5 and they never recovered.

Shrewsbury strengthened their position in second place with a comprehensive win over Barnt Green, who were dismissed for 117 in response to the home side’s 223-9 in 50 overs.

Rob Foster (61) and Ben Stebbings (48) were the main contributors as their batting colleagues failed to cope with the skill of leg-spinner Josh Poysden, who finished with 6-39.

Green’s response faltered mid-innings as they slumped from 41-1 to 76-6 with Dillon Pennington taking 3-17.

Division One leaders Brockhampton’s game with Himley was also reduced to 20 overs per side with the home side running out winners by seven wickets with more than four overs in hand.

Skipper Nick Powell took 4-17 as Himley were restricted to 112-8 before Ryan Tongue belted an unbeaten 61 from 43 balls to rush the Herefordshire outfit to an easy win.

At the other end of the table, wins for Bromsgrove and Barnards Green over Sutton Coldfield and Old Hill respectively left the latter two clubs anchored to the bottom.

Bromsgrove defeated Sutton by 33 runs at Rectory Park after Ashley Newdick hit 47 in their total of 173.

But the best performance of the match came from Sutton leg-spinner Luke Jones, who claimed 7-32 in 10 overs.

In reply, the hosts lost wickets at regular intervals, finishing on 139 all out despite an unbeaten 35 from Lewis Harrison.

The match between Old Hill and Barnards Green was reduced to 40 overs per side with the Black Country side boosted to their total of 164-6 by 66 from Tom Elwell and 51 from Harry Baddams, who put on 67 for the fifth wicket.

Set a revised target of 182, Green strolled to victory with four wickets and eight balls in hand with Josh Haynes scoring 49 and Kyle Giniotis adding 44.

Routine victories for Fordhouses and Pershore set up an intriguing clash at the weekend between the two front-runners in Division Three and only Astwood Bank can gatecrash their promotion party if they can better their results over the last five games.

Matt Brace was the star turn for Pershore, taking 3-13 as Worfield were bowled out for 130 then crashing an unbeaten 60 from 58 balls as he and Liam Ridings (49no) took their side from a rocky 30-3 to an easy victory without further loss.

Bank’s clash with Brewood was reduced to 22 overs per side and the home side racked up 176-6 at eight runs an over thanks to 43 from Tom Underhill, 37 from Alex Robinson and 34 from Steve Adshead.

Brewood made a brave attempt to chase the target down but finished 20 short on 156-4 with Richard Bradford undefeated on 48.

The match between Eastnor and Streetly was abandoned without a ball being bowled, which did nothing for either side with the Herefordshire outfit remaining firmly in the relegation zone.