BEWDLEY soared into the top half of the table in the Worcestershire County League Division One with a splendid victory at Worcester.

Winning the toss and choosing to bat Bewdley got off to a rapid start with Charlie Eastoe (30) and Simon Mauger (36) looking in ominously good form.

However, both were out and the Worcester bowlers began to find their length, and the remaining Bewdley batsmen were unable to make much headway.

The only exception was Dan Platt, who came in at 89-3 and played very sensibly and compiled a most valuable half-century.

Thanks almost entirely to his efforts Bewdley reached 186, a total which promised to set up a tight game on a pitch offering some help to the bowlers. Martyn Carr and Andy Platt, opening the bowling for Bewdley, both bowled excellent spells, and Worcester soon found themselves in trouble at 30-4.

Platt was relieved by Jack Mills (2-21), but Carr stayed on and tore through the middle order, and his remarkable figures of 5-45 from his 10 overs left the Worcester innings in tatters at 79-7.

From there Worcester recovered somewhat with veteran Ian Cotterill taking the attack to the bowlers, and with plenty of time left Bewdley became a little edgy before Cotterill was out at 131, and the end soon followed.

A notable feature was Bewdley’s predatory catching, with Robert Combes taking two sharp ones at slip and the last three batsmen all caught and bowled from rasping drives, by Luke Groves, Mauger and Mills.

Bewdley are at home to Pedmore on Saturday (1pm start).

The seconds beat Worcester by seven wickets on Saturday.

Worcester won the toss and opted to bat first but were dismissed for 122, with Matt Cowdery and Sam Beasley taking three wickets each.

Gareth Lewis hit 71 as Kidderminster made 126-3 in 20 overs.