ASTWOOD Bank’s battle to escape the relegation zone in Birmingham League Division Three suffered a setback after losing to title-chasing Stratford on Saturday.

Bank, who are third from bottom, lost the toss and were made to bat first.

Tom Pedley top scored with 70 runs but Bank were dismissed for 153, while Mike Brown took seven wickets for 39 runs.

Stratford replied with 155-4, with two wickets each for Andrzej Jagielski and Haris Ali taking two wickets each.

Astwood go to Pelsall in the league on Saturday (noon start).

Redditch are also trying to stay out of the drop zone in Worcestershire Division One but they went down by 52 runs to Burghill and Tillington.

The Kingfishers won the toss and decided to bowl first but their opponents made 274-6, with tail end batsmen Barney Morgan (69) and Stephen Caple (50) in good form.

Redditch were dismissed for 222, with Rizwan Mohammad Choudhry (57), Tom Field (40) and Greg Chinn (47) among the runs.

They entertain Bewdley on Saturday (1pm start).

Feckenham were edged out by 26 runs in Division Two by Coombs Wood.

Tom Coulson took four wickets as Wood made 275 all out in 50 overs.

Feckenham came close to chasing down the target, with William Davies (68) top scoring but were bowled out for 249.

They go Malvern on Saturday.

Alvechurch and Hopwood slipped out of the Division Three promotion spots after losing to Avoncroft by 159 runs.

Croft scored 267 all out but then dismissed Alvechurch for 118, with David James taking five wickets.

Church will aim to bounce back at home to Alveley on Saturday.

In Warwickshire Division One, Studley remain in the title hunt with a 104 run win over Solihull Blossomfield.