KIDDERMINSTER Victoria earned a vital 20 points as they saw off fellow relegation rivals Walsall in the Birmingham and District League Premier.

Victory means the Chester Road side have a handy 29 point gap over the bottom two teams with five games of the summer left.

KVCC held their nerve in a game of fine margins but it was enough against the Black Country outfit.

The hosts won the toss and put Walsall into bat and made a swift breakthrough when Matt Pardoe caught Simon Harding off Connor Smith's bowling.

The bowling attack kept the pressure on and Walsall lost four wickets for just 36 runs.

Mike Hingley (13) was caught by Michael Hill off Gareth Williams' delivery, before the bowler removed Alex McChristie for a duck.

David Powles, also a duck, was out lbw to Hill, followed by opener Umar Amin (29), who was caught by Williams off Neil Pinner's delivery.

Walsall rallied with a 57 run partnership from Paul Wicker and Byrne, before the former was bowled by Wright and caught by Ryan Derrick.

Byrne (36) and Michael Green (0) were then removed in the space of five runs KVCC's rivals fought back when Jordan Stynes (42 no) and Humais Butt (10 no) added late runs and guided Walsall to 189-9.

In reply, KVCC lost Richard Kimberlin (6) and Michael Hill (6) cheaply but Pardoe (38) and Neil Pinner (39) steadied the ship.

But KVCC slipped to 108-5 when Pardoe was caught, Pinner was bowled by Ben McFarlane and Craig Wood was dismissed for ten runs. At 126 Ryan Derrick was out lbw for six, but the seventh wicket produced 36 runs. Andrew Siwicki and Wright saw the total rise to 162, but Wright (16) was caught.

Siwicki looked in good shape, but on 33 he was out LBW to Byrne.

Kidderminster required 14 more runs and they got them with two balls to spare. Connor Smith (15) and Tom Kimberlin (6) secured 20 valuable points for their team.

Next weekend KVCC have two fixtures, away to Shrewsbury on Saturday and at home to Berkswell on Monday.

The seconds defeated Walsall by five wickets.

Both Jack Beadsworth and James Kinder took 2-27, with Henry Wright, Andy Logan taking one wicket each. There was one run out as Walsall made 169-7.

The Kidderminster batsmen fared much better, Mark Fisher scored 42, Steve Yarsley 40 and Zac Turley 36.