LANGLEYBURY'S title hopes suffered a set-back when Old MIllhillians had the impudence to leave Hunton Bridge victorious at the weekend.

It leaves Bury 29 points adrift of leaders Hoddesdon following their second defeat of the season. Careless batting meant they were left defending a precarious total of 165.

Langleybury ultimately went down fighting - but the defiance came too late in the game to salvage the bulk of the points needed to sustain pressure on Hoddesdon.

"You don't deserve to win if you bat like that," said the Langleybury captain Paul Reynolds after the game.

"We batted badly from number four onwards and did not get enough runs.

"It's hard to defend anything below 185 at Hunton Bridge and 165 was asking too much from our bowlers."

Bury's account began with a bad omen: Asad Khan had to face two new balls in the first over after the ball he hit a six with was never retrieved.

The wicket keeper made no further contribution though and was dismissed having faced only five balls.

But Langleybury otherwise began brightly, assembling 90 from the first 26 overs for the loss of one wicket.

Composure at the crease then turned to confusion and by 113, five more wickets had been surrendered.

Newly-wed Graham Reid (50) and Reynolds (39) batted doggedly in a partnership of 77, as did Jadved Khan (20), but the limp middle order effort meant Bury would have to perform superbly in the field to win.

Choosing not to use Javed Khan or Paul O'Reilly - who was only employed late in the game - skipper Paul Reynolds called upon the left-arm-spinner Spinks and Jerome to utilise a wicket that offered some turn.

The tactic worked and Bury were able to make some early inroads with Spinks taking four wickets but then came a brick wall in the stubborn resistance of Australian batsman Knight (86 not out).

The visitors were soon motoring along and were able to plunder 15 runs off the thirty-seventh over bowled by Spinks (4-47).

From 37 overs, 111 was on the board; Bury desperately needed wickets and O'Reilly (1-31) was introduced in the next over to inject some pace and make the breakthrough.

He did not waste any time, taking the fifth wicket on the nelson and was unlucky to have a leg before appeal turned down in the same over.

Langlebury briefly suggested they could turn the game on its head but fumbles in the field gifted the visitors more runs as they edged nearer to their target.

Knight and Cicale (27 not out) refused to buckle under pressure and hit the winning runs with two balls to spare in the last over.

Langleybury seconds had another nerve-jangling finish - going all the way to the last ball - but this time Bury were successful.

Sean Palmer conceded little to the relegation threatened Old Millhillians, bowling his first seven overs for a miserly seven runs.

At the other end Ed Gunning cunningly spun his way through the top order to finish on six for 55 off 22.3 overs.

In reply, Bury slipped from 88 for eight and it was up to How, coming to the crease in similar circumstances to the previous week, to find 18 runs from four overs.

The opposition pressed hard and forced How to take the majority of the strike.

How responded with a boundary and a six to leave Bury needing six runs from the final over.

After two quick singles and a two followed by a leg bye that levelled the scores, Hopping scored the winning run for Bury and brought his tally up to 79.

Off-spinner Matt Smith (6-39) recorded his league best of the season for West Herts as he ploughed through Welwyn Garden City's batting order.

Mike Hodges (44) and Paul Monico (30) hit the loose deliveries to put West Herts in a winning position and despite a few jitters later on, survived to take 30 precious points.

Of the club's recent turn of fortunes, Doug Kirby said: "We got to the position where we were staring relegation in the face and had to pull our finger out.

"More positive thinking has done us good and is reflected in our recent results with two wins and two winning draws."

An excellent second wicket stand between Steve Groves (52) and Duncan Blan (31) set the foundation of a small total on a difficult batting wicket.

Skipper May then bore through the top order and Pervez finished off the tail to complete an excellent win.

Hemel Hempstead II's did well to total a respectful 192 for eight from 51 overs after they had been put into bat on a wet pitch.

The highlight of the innings was an unbroken ninth wicket partnership of 62 between Roger Doodson (28 not out) and Lee Pickard (27 not out).

The same pair went on to take to two wickets each in Radlett's innings.

But Radlett were aided in their cause by some stubborn batting from Wynn-Evans (70) and they snatched victory with two overs to go.

Hemel picked up 15 points from the game and remain in fifth position in the league with three games to go.

Pat "JC" Thompson recorded his first ton for the club with a brutal 129 that allowed Hemel Hempstead thirds to retire after 47 overs on 265.

The score never looked likely to be threatened by Knebworth who ended on 167 with Mike Charles's flighted spin taking four of the wickets and Steven Cheesewright bowling tightly.

Batting has been a problem for Watford in recent weeks but thankfully for them their deficiencies were not exposed against Barnet.

The north London side could only muster 61 before they were dismissed which gave Watford a golden opportunity to grind a halt to their fall down the division towards the cut-off point for the new league next season.

Watford, still not safe, climbed two places to eighth.

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