FECKENHAM and Redditch continued their unbeaten starts to the season in the Worcestershire County League Division Two after a well-contested derby at Mill Lane last Saturday.

The Kingfishers will be the happier of the two teams after a spirited fightback with the bat saw them claim the winning draw and the majority of the points.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Redditch got off to a fast start with with wicketkeeper/batsman Jack Roberson (23) hitting the majority of the runs in an opening partnership of 41.

However, a great spell of bowling from Tom Coulson (7-73) saw Redditch collapse from 41-0 to 54-5.

In-form Coulson picked up his third five-wicket haul in a row to move to 18 league wickets for the season.

As it looked like Redditch would fall short of a competitive total, resolute batting from Tom Phelan (62) and Russell Southwick (46) meant they recovered and after some powerful hitting by captain Greg Chinn (46) Redditch posted 229all out in 46 overs.

Feckenham never got going in their run chase and if it wasn’t for sturdy resistance from opening batsman Luke Jackson (41) they could have been blown away by accurate Redditch bowling with Waqas Ali (3-58) being the pick of the bowlers.

Wickets fell at regular intervals as Feckenham tried their best to blast their way to the Redditch total, however, Matt Henning (65 not out) held the innings together to allow Feckenham to battle their way to the losing draw.

Despite being nine wickets down with four overs left to bowl, the Millers hung on to clinch the losing draw.

The result leaves Redditch still leading Division Two, while Feckenham fall to seventh place.

Redditch entertain Chaddesley Corbett at home on Saturday, while Feckenham visit Worcester Domininies (both 1pm starts).