Malvern 181-7, Worcester 61-1 (Abandoned).

MALVERN went into their Crusader Worcester County League Division One game against Worcester buoyed by some recent fighting performances and batted first against their local rivals.

The start of the match was delayed by rain but when play started the game was reduced to 43 overs. Worcester’s bowling attack kept Malvern’s batsmen in check for most of the innings.

But an excellent score of 78 from Adam Dovey was the cornerstone of Malvern’s innings, Steven Carter made another timely contribution with an unbeaten 20. Malvern’s total of 181 from 43 overs didn’t seem to be a good enough target.

Worcester’s opening batsmen soon confirmed this theory as the ball was dispatched to all parts of the ground.

Keyte was particularly severe on the short ball with three massive sixes. But a sudden deluge of rain put paid to the run chase and the game was abandoned with Worcester on 60-1 from nine overs.

Malvern captain Anthony Arnold said: “We were very much on the backfoot when the rain came and Worcester were well on top but similar things have gone against us in the past so we’ll move on and hopefully produce a better performance tomorrow.”