SKIPPER Zack Yarranton admitted Tenbury’s bid for back-to-back promotions had taken him by surprise but insisted: “We want to stay there.”

The Penlu outfit moved up to second in Worcestershire County League Division Four courtesy of Saturday’s 187-run crushing of Claverley.

That result, coupled with Hanley Castle’s eight-wicket loss at Halesowen III, propelled Tenbury into the promotion places with seven games to play.

The run-in also looks kind for Yarranton’s men with only one of the current top five on the schedule between now and the finish line.

“There is still a fair way to go but we have got a lot of the hard games out of the way,” said Yarranton.

“It is about pulling together a strong side during the holiday period and winning each week until the end now.

“Hopefully, we will be near the top come the end. We’re up to second and we want to stay there, even if back-to-back promotions would be more than I expected.

“I was just planning on testing the water this year but with the way we have turned up and played good cricket, we have put ourselves in a really good position.”

Tenbury seized second in emphatic fashion but were made to work harder than the final result suggests.

Andrew Adams (30) and Jonathan Pearson (10) scored steadily after Henry Anton’s early dismissal but it took a middle-order haul of 85 from Tom Rawlings to really get the ball rolling.

Yarranton (19) and David Hunt (23*) contributed well before Matthew Jones weighed in with an unbeaten 32.

That meant Claverley had to try to outdo a total of 252 for seven but Yarranton (3-9), Marcus Griffiths (2-11) and Aaron Morris (4-13) ensured just two opponents – Edward Grainger (11) and Simon Taylor (13) – managed double figures.

Claverley finished on 65 all out from 31.5 overs, although Yarranton conceded it had not been plain sailing.

“We lost the toss and Henry in the first over at one for one,” he added. “Jon came in and battled for a while, slowed things down and allowed us to rebuild.

“After 20 overs we were 68 for two so we were going pretty slowly. I was starting to think 180-200 would be a good score for us to bowl at.

“Then Tom came in and ended up with 85 and Dave stayed with him. We got to 252 in the end which I felt would be more than enough.

“I expected a bigger fight from them to be honest. We had two dropped chances in my first over and in Marcus Griffiths’s first over but we both managed to get the same guys within the next couple so it didn’t matter too much.

“It all followed on from there and that was it. We bowled well and I was more than happy, they just didn’t show up with the bat.”