HAMMERWICH suffered defeat on the road as they went down by five wickets at Cannock.
The visitors were sent in to bat first, but lost opener Tom Wright for just two runs early on.
Imran Qadir added nine before his dismissal left the Hammers on 16-2.
But Scott Elstone, Ben Novis and Callum Brodrick hit crucial runs as the Hammerwich innings eventually closed on 174.
Muhammad Riaz did most of the damage with the ball for Cannock as he claimed impressive figures of 5-38.
The Hammers knew early wickets would be crucial – and the bowlers duly obliged as Haider Pervaiz trapped James Boden lbw before repeating the trick with Varun Bali.
With the score on 15-2, the visitors might have felt their chances of getting a result had increased, but a fine half-century from Daniel Wood and an unbeaten knock of 88 from Adil Amin swung the pendulum firmly back in Cannock's favour.
The hosts eventually wrapped up the victory with five wickets in hand.
Pervaiz was the pick of the Hammerwich bowlers with figures of 3-23.
