MALVERN crashed to an eight-wicket defeat at Pershore in Crusader League Division One.

After winning the toss, Pershore skipper Lee Wilks asked the visitors to bat on an excellent wicket and it was soon evident that Malvern’s line-up was unable to get to grips with the varied Pershore attack.

Malvern lost eight wickets with just 122 runs on the board.

Thomas Poole (34 not out) was then joined by skipper Anthony Arnold (15no) and the pair added 45 for the ninth wicket to give the Malvern score some respectability as the innings closed on 167-8. Pershore reached their target with 17 overs to spare.