AN EXCELLENT spell of bowling from Jamie Farrar proved in vain as Tenbury Wells slumped to a 117-run defeat at the hands of Worcester 3rds in Division Nine of the Worcestershire League.

He took career-best figures of 6-83 and skittled out Worcester’s top order as the hosts struggled to get a foothold in the game.

But that brought Richard Franklin to the crease and his 126 run-fest ultimately steered his side to victory.

Farrar bowled opener Dave Robinson with four more wickets following soon after. He also bagged the key wicket of Franklin but only after he had settled his side with a timely century and Worcester were finally all out for 265.

Ian Bowkett was also among the wickets with 3-46, Johnathan Duce capturing the other.

But after impressing with the ball, Farrar was unable to shine with the bat and the Tenbury opener fell early on along with skipper Ben Thompson.

There were useful contributions from David Hunt (32), Andrew Adams (28) and Bowkett (25) but the lower order failed to add to the tally and the visitors were dismissed for 148.

Tenbury 2nds were involved in a thrilling contest before finally edging out visitors Bromyard 3rds with just a solitary wicket in hand.

Ashley Wood took 3-31 as Bromyard were limited to 169-8 from their 40 overs.

In reply, Tenbury made a rocky start and it needed the middle order pair of Ian Taylor (58 no) and Jack Farrar (36) to steady the innings. Skipper Wood then joined Taylor at the crease to edge his side over the line as they reached 170-9.

Saturday sees the start of the win/lose part of the season for Tenbury 1sts who welcome Droitwich to Penlu while Tenbury 2nds head to Worcester Nomads.