EASTNOR notched their fourth win in eight Birmingham League Division Two clashes when they saw off lowly Water Orton by five wickets.

Some fine early bowling by Shahid Ahmed put Eastnor in control after the visitors had won the toss and elected to bat.

Mohammed Adeel (1-13), who gave valuable support, collected the first wicket before Shahid took over.

The seamer took five of the next six wickets to fall, two of them - one bowled and another leg-before - without the batsmen playing a shot as he returned the excellent figures of 5-41 from 16 overs.

At 49-8, Water Orton looked in danger of a complete rout before Richard Morgan (18 not out) and former Herefordshire bowler Lesroy Irish (13) boosted the total with a stand of 33 for the ninth wicket.

This proved just a temporary revival, however, as skipper Atiq Ur Rehman wrapped up proceedings by taking the last two wickets in two balls to finish with 4-17 from 10 overs of leg-spin.

The innings concluded at 2pm just in time to avoid a heavy downpour which, at one point, put a resumption in doubt. However, conditions cleared for Eastnor to be required to pass the Water Orton score in 32 overs.

Andrew Fisher (11) and Sunil Rahi (six) began confidently and took the score to 17 before the first wicket fell.

But there was a wobble to reduce the innings to 36-3 before Atiq was joined by Arshad Hussain and the pair doubled the score to take Eastnor to the brink of victory.

Although Atiq (37) and Arshad (eight) were both dismissed before victory was achieved, Josh Emery came in to smash a six to pass the target.

Brockhampton remain in second place in the Premier Division despite seeing the game at Wombourne abandoned at the midway point.

After being invited to bat first, Brockhampton assembled a challenging total of 199-8 before declaring midway through the 44th over.

Chris Boroughs hit 14 fours and a six from just 53 as he reached 70, his best score of the season.

And there was good support from opener Adam Hewlett (38) and skipper Ben Stebbings (31) to take the score to 144-2.

A hat-trick from Edward Denham (4-65), who removed Dave Exall, Joe Crichard and Will Barrett in successive balls rather interrupted the flow. But a late flurry from Chris Powell (18) lifted the final total.

The weather falied to relent and the match had to be abandoned, but a similar fate befell leaders Shrewsbury, who were in an even stronger positon - at 29-1 chasing just 63 to win - when rain stopped play in their match at Walsall.

This Saturday sees a top-of-the-table clash at The Parks when Shrewsbury are the visitors to Brockhampton.