AVONCROFT suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of Malvern in Worcestershire County League Division One.

The hosts won the toss and put Malvern into bat but their opponents made a formidable 375-9 in 50 overs, with Rob Francis hitting 117.

Croft’s reply got off to a poor start when Luke Huxley and Paul Athey both went for ducks, but David James (66) and captain Craig Hughes (117) led the fight back.

But apart from Dan Elliott (27) and Jason Patel (36), Croft fell short on 314 all out.

Avoncroft go to Harborne Thirds on Saturday (1pm).

Elsewhere, Chaddesley Corbett suffered a setback in their Division Two title bid as they slipped to a six-wicket loss to Worcester and Dominies.

Corbett elected to bat first but were dismissed for 145, with wickets for Andy Hill (3-48) and Chris Miles (3-33).

Despite two wickets for Ikram Mussadaq (2-41), Worcester made 194-4 in reply as the gap behind table-topping Redditch stretched to 27 points.

Chaddesley are at home to Alvechurch and Hopwood on Saturday (1pm start).