Presteigne maintained their form in the Worcester League Division Nine (Herefordshire North) with a massive 210-run run win at Kington 2nds, writes Paul Worts.

Mark Ammonds led the way for the Radnorshire men with a fine 142 as Presteigne topped the 300 mark for the second week in a row, scoring 307 for 5, before bowling Kington out for just 97.

Following their record 40 over score seven days earlier, Presteigne not surprisingly opted to bat first and reached 41 for 2, losing the previous week’s centurions Will Bartholomew (6) and Ed Rees (15). A third wicket stand of 96 between Mark Ammonds and David Austin (44), who scored at six runs per over, looked to have put Presteigne in the driving seat. The loss of Austin failed to slow the momentum and Ammonds and young Joey Jones then put on 140 for the next wicket before Jones fell for a season best 53. Ammonds departed for a well crafted 142 from 109 balls which included 13 fours and four sixes, leaving Alan Stocker (16 not out) from eight balls to take Presteigne past 300. Captain, David Moss was Kington’s most successful bowler with 2-46.

Joey Jones (1-40) took an early wicket when Kington batted and first change, David Austin opened up with a double wicket maiden. Austin returned figures of 4 for 9 in six overs to end any faint hopes Kington might have had with Gary Rhodes (2-14), Matthew Griffiths (1-20) and Ed Rees ( 2-1) taking the other wickets.

Presteigne remain 11 points behind leaders, Moccas who maintained their 100 per cent record with a seven-wicket win over Almeley 2nds. Veteran, Bill Bowen took 2 for 7 in his eight overs when Almeley batted but Alan Davies (48) and Thomas North (75) rectified the situation. The hosts, however, then collapsed to 165 all out losing seven wickets in five overs to Sam Charles 5 for 5 and Matty James 2 for 3. Charles (51) then completed a fine afternoon’s work and Ryan James hit 43 as Moccas eased to the win.

Elsewhere in Division Nine, Builth Wells 2nds slipped to a fourth straight defeat beaten by six wickets at home by Dales 2nds. Builth could only manage 134 all out with Owen “Junior” Evans topscoring with 36 not out. Eurig Towns (26), Ian Morgan (14) and Akrash Srivastava (12) were the only other batsmen to make double figures as George Davies and Abdul Rahman each took 3 for 23 for Dales.

Towns (3-31) and Samuel Avis (1-29) bowled well at the start of the Dales innings but 136 was never going to be enough and the Leominster visitors reached their target thanks largely to 80 not out from man of the match, Rahman.