TOM Pilling and George Bunn took seven wickets between them to inspire Pershore to a 47-run victory over visitors Droitwich in their Worcestershire League Division One opener on Saturday.
The hosts were put into bat by Spa in helpful conditions for the bowlers and Droitwich took advantage to dismiss Pershore for 145 in 49.3 overs, as only opener Liam Ridings with a confident 52 provided any real resistance, although Phil Oxley made an unbeaten 21.
Jake Young claimed 4-18 off eight overs for Droitwich and Max Young took 3-45.
However, Pershore showed why they will hope to be challenging at the top end of the table again with a superb fightback with the ball.
Opener Jake Young made 30 for Droitwich but an extras tally of 27 was the next highest contribution to their score of 98 as Pilling (4-17 off eight) and Bunn (3-22 off 7.5) did the damage.
The win earned Pershore 20 points and they travel to local rivals Evesham on Saturday.
EVESHAM began their campaign with an abandoned match at Redditch.
The visitors won the toss and put the Kingfishers into bat but the hosts made good progress to 91-1 off 22.2 overs as Tom Field (34no) and Russell Southwick (29no) looked good.
However, the rain put paid to the contest and Evesham, for whom Hassan Akbar claimed the wicket of Luke Davis for ten, had to settle for five points.
