A SUPERB century from batsman Ben Cooke was still not enough to bring Colwall victory as they had to settle for a losing draw against visitors Bewdley in Worcestershire League Division One.

Cooke blasted 17 fours and a six in his masterly innings of 122 as Colwall chased a Bewdley total of 256-6, but the target proved just beyond the home side, who finished 32 runs adrift on 224-7.

Having asked Bewdley to bat on a pristine Stowe Lane wicket, Colwall lacked early penetration as visiting openers Nick Wilkinson and Martyn Carr shared a half-century stand inside 10 overs before Mike Gooch came on to trap Wilkinson leg before for 17 and then clean bowled Carr for 35 with the total on 83.

From then on the home bowlers struggled as Gareth Lewis and Rob Combes shared a fluent stand of 98 for the third wicket before the latter was finally caught for 44 off Matt Morgan’s off-spin.

But Lewis and Conor Franklin then took the total past the 200 mark with some 10 overs remaining.

Johnno Gooch came back in to the attack to remove Lewis for 78 and then bowl Mike Harris without scoring, but Franklin kept the runs flowing before he edged keeper Ben Wheeler for 34 out of a final total of 256-6.

Colwall lost Nick Brown caught off Platt in the second over of their reply before Nick Pannions and Cooke added 57 for the second wicket. But Pannions was bowled by Mills for 21 and with three more wickets falling cheaply, Colwall were in trouble at 106-5.

Cooke was well into his stride by then however, and with solid support from Ali Pearce almost brought Colwall back into contention in a sixth-wicket stand of 115 before falling for 122 in the 48th over, Pearce also falling for 26 before the overs elapsed with 33 still needed.

Colwall’s seconds produced a lacklustre batting display on a sound pitch at Bewdley who coasted to a convincing six-wicket victory after dismissing the visitors for 157.

Put in to bat, Colwall began reasonably but then lost skipper Fergus Cameron, yorked for 18 and Ben Febery caught on the legside for 19.

Henry Coleman then smashed 49 off 20 balls in his usual barnstorming fashion, but once he departed wickets tumbled to Brewer (4-49) only Simon Davies reaching double figures as Colwall folded for 157 from just 31.2 overs.

With no pressure on run-rate, Bewdley were rarely in trouble after tea, a solid 59 from D Platt seeing them home on 158-4.

Colwall’s third produced an encouraging performance to get the better of Marches League Division Two newcomers Cleobury Mortimer by 52 runs on the Ghost Meadow pitch.

Dick Tugwell (31) played the anchor role and Stu Martin (28) and Ewan Buttle (35) provided controlled aggression in a hard-earned total of 141, the last wicket falling off the final delivery.

Alex Whittaker claimed a wicket in his first over before Dom Bannister ripped through the top order with four more wickets in a decisive seven-over spell that left Cleobury in disarray on 30-5.

Harry Evans finished with 4-26 and Toby Clifford taking the last wicket to complete a fine win.

Meanwhile, Colwall’s fourths snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as three wickets in an over from Bruno Recorden and two in 15 balls from Archie Phillips saw them to a five-run win at Wormelow’s thirds.