Saracens Herts League

Division Two

Met Police Bushey were in ruthless form, winning by seven wickets at Baldock.

Skipper Daniel Nightingale’s men were invited to bowl first and instantly made inroads on the hosts’ batting line-up.

Openers Nightingale and Ben Goode kept things tight with the latter snaring two batsmen in two balls thanks to some sharp bowling and a good catch by Harry Blagden. Nightingale managed to remove the opener, reducing Baldock to 15 for three.

The Baldock middle order knuckled down and began to edge the batting side towards a respectable score but Karan Joshi had other ideas, taking two in two.

Alex Carter then cleaned up the tail end to finish with very useful figures of three for two as the hosts were removed for just 76.

Opener Blagden fell for three, bringing Joshi to the crease. He initially struggled to find his rhythm but soon got the scoreboard ticking.

Greg Keene was bowled by Loriot and was followed shortly by Dave Soulsby but Vimal Patel joined Joshi (45 not out) to see Met home with seven wickets to spare.

Hemel Hempstead Seconds won by 40 runs at Old Owens.

Put into bat first, Hemel were bowled out for a less than flattering total of 132.

Suren Perera top-scored with 30 at the top and Matt Dale added 25 but it was a late-order flurry from Duncan Howard (16), Andy Turbutt (14) and Liam Jahn (14) that got Hemel over the 100-run mark.

Opener C Palmer (27) top-scored for the hosts, with R Lane and R Allan adding 17 apiece.

Youngster Billy May returned superb figures of six for 13 from ten overs to help run through Old Owens.

A couple of wickets from fellow opener Howard (two for 25) and two for 42 from the spin of Faisal Iqbal saw the job done as the hosts were removed for 96.

Sam Mazurek emerged the Leverstock Green hero when he blasted through Abbots Langley’s batting line-up with a four-over five-for-15 spell that earned a thrilling three-run local derby victory.

Lewis Koch batted patiently for Levy earlier in the day, his 40 the top score as Green posted 139 all out on a tricky deck – thanks in no small part to an invaluable ninth-wicket stand between Majid Khan (24 not out) and Mazurek (17).

In reply, Abbots were within 25 runs of victory when Mazurek charged downhill at Bedmond Road, his sharp left-arm seamers wiping out Langley’s tail including visiting skipper Matt Dunstone.

Radlett Seconds triumphed at home to Wheathampstead by 19 runs.

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first and were dismissed for 112 with tail-enders Carpenter and Dan Foster helping Radlett to their total.

The bowling attack of Carpenter, Lee, Foster, Wright and Malde tore into Wheathampstead to bowl them out for 93.

Division Three

Northwood Town suffered a 140-run thrashing at Hatfield Hyde.

The visitors’ overseas player, Mitchell Futcher (67 and three for 14), delivered an exceptional match-winning performance.

Town lost the toss and were asked to field. Comfortably the best batsman in the Hatfield side, Futcher took the hosts to 204 for five.

The visitors struggled from the start with Futcher picking up three of Town’s top five before the score had passed 20 before the visitors were removed for 64.

Division Four

Bushey put Knebworth Park Seconds to the sword with a 65-run home win.

Batting first, the hosts were all out for 134.

Mike Foley (28) steadied the ship prior to his dismissal before Neil Jackson (32 not out) and Narendra Gogna (30) dragged the hosts to a respectable score.

Mohammed Asif (three for 27) and Qamar Shahzad reduced Knebworth to 30 for four at one stage and when Farooq Hameed captured Skeggs (26), victory was a formality as the visitors crumbled to 69 all out.

Chorleywood Seconds drew with Northampton Exiles, leaving them second bottom of the table.

Wood performed well with the ball as they bowled their hosts out for 163, with Shri Mani (five for 64) picking up his first five-wicket haul for the club.

In reply though, Wood were unable to build any significant partnerships. Rohan Lee (28) top-scored with 28 as the visitors finished on 141 for eight.

Langleybury Seconds lost by seven wickets at home to Bayford and Hertford.

Skipper Andy Felton lost the toss and with it, the game, as Bury were invited to bat first on a pitch that had been under water earlier in the week.

The hosts managed to scrape their way to a total of 116 thanks to some late hitting by Andrew Cheeseman (28 not out). Remarkably the pitch had dried out by the time Bayford batted and at 50 for one the visitors were in control.

However the introduction of Bury’s spin trio threatened to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat but in the end it wasn’t quite enough as Bayford finished on 117 for seven.