Bowlers Zack Yarranton and Robbie Farrar took four wickets apiece as Tenbury Wells CC eased to a nine wicket victory over Redditch Entaco 3rds in Division Five of the Worcestershire League.

And opening bat Aaron Morris then wrapped up a convincing win, his swashbuckling innings seeing his side to victory inside nine overs.

Having lost the toss, Tenbury were handed the ball and skipper Yarranton wasted no time in taking advantage of the conditions, removing the opening four batsmen to record figures of 4-15 from his six overs as Redditch were skittled out for 43.

“It was one of those days when everything seemed to go well for us,” the captain admitted. “We bowled well and held all our catches. Aaron has then knocked off the runs.

“They won the boss and chose to bat – and I’d have probably opted to bowl anyway because I fancied our chances of getting them out.

“The new ball was doing quite a bit early on and we’ve gone through the top four or five quite quickly. I’ve taken a few wickets lately so I have a bit of confidence but it helps when you have someone like Robbie [Farrar] at the other end. He always bowls ultra tight and when the runs are hard to come by, the pressure mounts on the batsmen and they start taking risks.

“Robbie took four late wickets but could also have taken a couple early on.”

Farrar finished with 4-21 from 10.4 overs with Jack Farrar taking 1-6 while wicketkeeper Andrew Adams ran out the last man.

And with openers Morris and Adams in good form, such a paltry total was never going to challenge the Tenbury batsmen.

Adams had chalked up four consecutive 50s going into this game but suffered a rare lapse and was stumped for just two. But Morris rarely looked in trouble and his unbeaten 39 steered the home side to victory in the ninth over.

The win lifted Tenbury up to second place – above Hallow and just behind leaders West Malvern. And with those two meeting this weekend, skipper Yarranton is hopeful that another good display at Stourbridge 4ths on Saturday should further cement their place in the top two.

Skipper Ben Thompson scored an impressive 85 for Tenbury 2nds but it wasn’t enough to stave off defeat at Redditch Entaco 4ths by three wickets.

Fellow opener Ian Taylor (38) and Darren Thompson (24) also made decent contributions with the visitors posting 187.

But Redditch reached their total in good time, an unbeaten 60 from veteran Nev Mason taking them to 188-7. Taylor was the pick of the bowlers with 3-34.