JONATHAN Keen’s maiden five-wicket haul was the only high point of an otherwise dismal afternoon for Droitwich Spa, who slipped to the bottom of Worcestershire County League Division One after losing at Pedmore.
The 131-run defeat was largely due to poor day with the bat for Spa downfall who were bowled out for 82 in the 26th over.
Hosts Pedmore got their innings underway with a quickfire 42 by Callum White before his dismissal by Keen, whose introduction in the tenth over helped put a halt to any early momentum.
He reduced the hosts to 117-5, adding Mohammad Shauib (20), David Meehan (24), George Homer (17) and Asif Iqbal (8) from Pedmore’s top order to his list of dismissals.
But with tailenders Ryan Beaumont (32) and Ben Taylor (36no) adding valuable runs towards the end of the innings, Spa needed a substantially improved batting effort to recent weeks to stand a chance of claiming a victory.
However, Droitwich quickly floundered at the crease.
Top-order pair Max Young (23) and Paul Bryan (24) were the two stand-out scorers for Spa, in an otherwise dismal batting diosplay that did little to offer hopes of re-igniting a survival push.
To add insult to injury, a win for Bredon over Cookley lifted them above Droitwich in the table.
Droitwich host fourth-placed Coombs Wood on Saturday (1pm) and sit 26 points from safety with six games remaining.
