Presteigne moved 15 points clear at the top of the Worcester Cricket League Division Nine (Herefordshire North) with a six-wicket victory at Almeley 2nds.

With previous joint leaders, Moccas suffering a surprise defeat against Dales 2nds, Presteigne cashed in. Almeley batted first and struggled for runs as Matthew Griffiths (1-12) and Joey Jones (1-15) bowled useful six over spells at the start of the innings. Arthur Chilman (1-16), Ed Rees (1-32) and Morgan Speed (1-10) took further wickets for Presteigne before Matthew Pudge (3-8) and Will Bartholomew (1-8) ran through the tail with Almeley all out for 109.

Will Bartholomew (46 not out) anchored Presteigne’s reply carrying his bat and Fred Chilman (21 not out) saw them to victory with Billy Davies (13), Joey Jones (17) and Morgan Speed (10) also chipping in with valuable runs.

Builth Wells 2nd X1 were beaten by four wickets at home by Burghill, Tillington & Weobley 3rds after posting a decent 190 for 6.

Opener, Paul Rowe (46) and captain, Jonny Curzon (59) got the bulk of the runs while there were decent contributions down the order from the returning Paul Greenway (21 not out) and Owen “Junior” Evans (19 not out). Burghill reached their target with seven overs to spare led by Noah Morgan (68) and Brian McCarthy (58) with Mike Williams (3-22) picking up three wickets for Builth. Ian Morgan took 2-26 and Greenway 1 for 25.