CONCERNED Kidderminster Victoria captain Matt Pardoe has admitted his side’s batting must improve after they were knocked off the top spot this week by a star-studded Berkswell side.

The visitors to Chester Road have strong connections to Edgbaston and are led by former Warwickshire favourite Dominic Ostler, but also had the luxury of former England player Darren Maddy in their side.

But Pardoe pointed to a poor batting display as Kidderminster found themselves condemned to a third successive Birmingham League defeat which has seen them drop to fourth in the table.

After restricting Berkswell to 251 for eight, Kidderminster then crumpled to 154 all out, leaving themselves 97 runs short.

Pardoe claimed: “I was quite pleased with the first half of the game and the fact we managed to keep Berkswell to 250 on a decent wicket and rapid outfield. The score could have easily been 300 plus.

“But the second half didn’t go to plan and we should have batted much better.

“Our batting hasn’t been good enough in recent Birmingham League games, we’re just not firing at the moment!”

Australian strike bowler Dan Worrall did all the early damage in reply, ripping out the top order to take five for 55.

Pardoe confirmed: “He’s a massive player for them. He plays for South Australia and is over here as cover for Clint McKay at Leicestershire.

“But that said, we got ourselves out to some soft dismissals. We were surviving the good balls and not scoring off the ones we should have.

“If you take the abandoned game with Walmley into account, it means we have now gone four games without a win.”

Kidderminster’s cause wasn’t helped when they lost batsman Craig Wood at short notice after he failed to recover from an injury he picked up in the ECB National Clubs Knockout win over Ombersley KVCC travel to Shrewsbury this Saturday, who have climbed above Kidderminster this week. as a result of their emphatic win over Walmley.Pardoe said: “Shrewsbury are one of the sides you expect to see up there challenging for the title and this will be a really tough game.

“London Road hasn’t been a particularly good hunting ground for Kidderminster in the past and that has got to change.”