ASTWOOD Bank’s battle to stay out of the Birmingham League Division Three suffered a setback on Saturday when they lost to mid-table Kings Heath by five wickets on Saturday.

Skipper Steve Adshead had elected to bat first after winning the toss and his side made 188-8 in 55 overs.

Sam Thomas (52) top scored, while Adshead (29), Thomas Harris (36) and Andrzej Jagielski (29) got among the runs.

Bank looked in control as King Heath’s opponents were reduced to 111-5 but a sixth-wicket 78 run partnership between Vishiwajeet Kumar (58no) and Ben Jones (40no) turned the game on its head and steered the Birmingham side to 189-5 in reply.

“This was a game we talked about being quite big because we could have dragged Kings Heath into the relegation battle,” said Adshead.

“But it is pretty much the status quo at the bottom and Fordhouses lost again at the weekend.

“I thought we set a competitive total and got them down to a 111-5.

“The pitch was turning and it’s very rare that our bowlers don’t do the job when we’re in that sort of position but to be fair the two guys batted well for Kings Heath.”

Astwood are now fifth from bottom, just ten points ahead of Millford Hall.

They have home clashes against struggling Quatt on Saturday and Penn a week later (both noon starts) which could have a big say on the Worcestershire County League Champions’ survival hopes.

Adshead added: “We’ve got two games coming up against teams below us so we’re looking forward to playing them.

“Dan Thomas misses out which is a shame because he’s our leading wicket-taker.

“Brandon Miller is back in contention after a scoring 160 for the seconds. He’s had a bit of a rough time of it so it was good to see him score some runs.”

l In Warwickshire League Division One, Studley suffered a massive ten wicket loss to Barby.

The Bees lost the toss and were put into bat and were dismissed for 104 in 36 overs.

Only Barrie Forrster-Smith making an impact with the bat with a 39.

But Studley’s batsmen had no answer to James Wynn Evans (4-18) and David Watson (3-43).

Wynn Evans (27) and Joel Glegohrn then steered Barby to 105-0 in 25 overs.

Studley are embroiled in a relegation battle and are second from bottom.

They are at home to second-placed Solihull Municipal on Saturday (1pm start).