TOM Rawlings led from the front as Tenbury picked up their Division Five promotion push in the Worcestershire County League.

Rawlings, who works in the media department at Warwickshire CCC, made his own headlines, hitting a seasonal-best 79 as Tenbury overhauled Barnt Green 3rd’s 213-9 on 214-6 to record their first win in three games after back-to-back defeats by Stourport and Astwood Bank sandwiched a rain-off against West Malvern.

They only required 30.2 overs to knock off the runs, with Rawlings filling his boots with 11 fours and four sixes before offering a steepling catch to mid-off.

Zack Yarranton (55) and Keir Sellars (54) also weighed in with half-centuries to support Rawlings after the cheap loss of openers Aaron Morris (4) and Andy Adams (1).

Sellars put ball to bat with some aplomb, with 44 of his 54 runs coming in boundaries, five fours and four sixes.

Rawlings said: “The pitch didn’t have the bounce and pace that Penlu has but it was a very good batting wicket.

"The outfield was quick and short too so you knew that if you got the ball past the infield you had a good chance of it going to the boundary.

“Zack and Keir both batted really well and who knows how many we would have scored had we batted first - we would have certainly fancied getting close to 400.

“The only disappointment for me personally was not going on to score a hundred but it was a good all-round performance by the team and nice to get back to winning ways after a couple of tough weeks.”

Opener Harrison Moncrieffe had earlier kept the Barnt Green innings ticking over with 82 before being bowled by Morris.

Adam Brownhill also made 55 before becoming one of two victims for Zack Yarranton (2-45).

Veteran Mark Yarranton also took 2-52 while opening bowler Jack Farrar finished with 3-29 off 10 tight overs.

The victory sees Tenbury in third spot in the Division Five table at the halfway stage of the season, 31 points behind leaders Astwood Bank and 21 adrift of second-placed Stourport.

They are back on the road with a trip to Enville this Saturday.

Back in April they kicked off their programme with a thumping nine-wicket win over Enville, with the father and son combination of Mark and Zack Yarranton sharing all 10 wickets as the visitors were bowled out for 65.

Tenbury 2nd were a clear second best in losing out by eight wickets to Barnt Green 2nd at Penlu.

They started well with skipper Ben Thompson (30) and Ian Taylor putting on 58 for the first wicket, but then four wickets fell for the addition of two runs and they never recovered and were bowled out for 131.

Darren Thompson tried his best to stop the rot with a dogged 39, but Barnt Green finished them off inside 27 overs and then swept to victory for the loss of two wickets in just 15 overs.

Skipper Thompson candidly admitted: “Barnt Green were a very young side and extremely well drilled. If I am honest, it was a bit of a thrashing.”