Championship

Second-bottom Langleybury boosted their own survival hopes, whilst dashing those of bottom-of-the-league hosts Old Finchleians, by claiming a 137-run win on Saturday.

Visitors Langleybury built well through Mohammed Manzoor (88) and Luke Samarasinghe (58), putting on a total of 255 for five.

Old Finchleians were disappointing in response, with Divyesh Depala (29) top-scoring in a meagre total of 118.

West Herts were made to pay for a disappointing batting display as they fell to a five-wicket defeat at home to Totteridge Millhillians.

After losing openers Anthony Griffin (0) and Karan Parmar (1) cheaply, 43 from Avinash Mane looked to have got the home side up and running, only for the tail to collapse.

Hasan Mahmood took four for 27 to help dismiss the hosts for 140.

Totteridge started equally slowly with the bat, before 60 from Steve Selwood and 29 from Shaun O’Brien guided them to 141 for five.

Chorleywood’s winning run came to an end as they were beaten by three wickets in a tight finish at home to Hoddesdon.

Wood found themselves in trouble early on as they lost a couple of wickets in the opening overs, before Scott Aspinal (40) and Ed Lye (57) led a spirited fight back.

Peter Dunning chipped in with an unbeaten 29 in the later overs as Wood eventually recovered to a passable total of 182 for eight from their 50 overs.

Hoddesdon assembled a number of solid partnerships at the top of the order to put themselves on their way to victory. However, Wood pacemen Dave Bushnell (three for 22) and Jamie Smithson (three for 37) fought back by picking up wickets in the middle order to place the game back in the balance.

Visitors Hoddesdon displayed grit and determination to eventually get over the line with just four balls left.

Wood now need to win at least one of their remaining two fixtures in order to secure their place in the Championship for another season.

Premier Division

Hemel Hempstead missed the opportunity to climb back into fourth place after suffering a three-wicket defeat on their travels at Sawbridgeworth.

A below-strength Hemel opened the batting but almost immediately lost captain Hem Ilangaratne (1).

Jay O’Nien (44) and Josh Graves (69) looked to have got Hemel back on track before the tail end failed to follow their lead and Hemel were removed for 200, with Ryan Cunningham taking four for 20.

In reply, Hemel had their hosts at 57 for four but 97 not out from Dan Wilson helped steer Sawbridgeworth home with a total of 203 for seven.

Gareth James took three for 36.

Division One

Kings Langley lost by a wicket against Luton Town & Indians, almost snatching an improbable win following a poor display with the bat.

Kings batted first and were bowled out for an under-par 110 in the 46th over, with Brad Hughes top-scoring on 22.

The bowlers tried to get their team back into the match and had their opponents reeling on 35 for five. When Luton’s ninth wicket fell at 83 it looked as if they could pull the game out of the fire.

Luton’s man of the match, Dhiren Salvi had other ideas though, and his 60 not out guided his team to a one-wicket victory.

Division Two

Watford Town claimed a three-wicket win over Leverstock Green to keep their slim promotion hopes alive.

Watford won the toss and elected to field first in what looked liked bowler-friendly conditions.

Although Green got off to a steady start, Ravi Panchal (three for 24) soon turned things round in a space of an over when he took three quick wickets.

The home team turned to their spin attack and although Levy built some small partnerships, they did not amount to anything significant as the outstanding bowling of Cookie Latif (five for 17) and Mohammed Abid (two for 35), backed up with some smart fielding, meant the opposition were bowled out for 143 in the 48th over.

Watford’s reply got off to an all too familiar pattern and soon they found themselves in real trouble at 56 for six to leave Leverstock in a commanding position.

However, match-winning partnerships between Gulfraz Riaz (40 not out), Usman Majid (26) and Latif (31 not out) meant a tense finish resulted in a hard-fought win for the home side, who ended on 147 for seven.

An understrength Abbots Langley hung on for a draw against Northchurch – enough to keep them outside the relegation zone.

Fielding first, Abbots were quickly among the wickets as Dan Roche dismissed the two openers. Northchurch then put together several useful partnerships as Abbots struggled in the field.

However, Dom Smith (two for 40) and Jimmy Davies (two for 22) bowled economically to keep Abbots in the hunt as Northchurch declared on 196 for seven.

Ben Balmforth and Jack Read got Abbots off to a flyer and with Blesson Ghoghe (36) and Mathew Parkins (60) in fine form, a win looked on the cards. A middle-order collapse put paid to that though, and Abbots closed on 184 for nine to seal a draw.

Northwood were narrowly beaten by Old Albanian after failing to clinch the visitors’ final wicket.

With the top order failing, it was left to Steve Hussey to roll back the years to hit 35 as Northwood limped to 132 all out.

The Northwood bowling attack soon got stuck into Old Albanian and had their visitors at 24 for four at one stage.

A partnership of 62 brought the away side up to 86 for five though, as regular wickets and brief partnerships kept the game interesting.

OAs finally got home in the last over with 117 for nine, in spite of Dhaval Panchal’s five for 51 and Ross Noach’s four for 82.

Hemel Hempstead Seconds fell to another comprehensive defeat, losing by ten wickets at St Margaretsbury.

Put into bat first, Hemel were torn apart by the ruthless Kevin Walls (six for 14), who blitzed through the batting line-up to remove the visitors for just 40.

Matt Petchell (13) was the only batsman to reach double figures but was dimissed leg before wicket just as he was getting going.

The home side made minimal fuss of chasing down the Hemel total, with Simon Tilbury (40 not out) and Giles Tilbury (four not out) easing the hosts to the win.

Division Three

Veer Vadgama produced a stunning spell of bowling to finish with figures of six for 18 in Northwood Town’s 22-run win over Luton Town and Indians Seconds.

Put into bat on a damp pitch, Northwood struggled for runs, with Andy Burt (18) and Aiden Lawrence (21) putting on useful knocks to push the Town score onto 103 all out.

With Luton on 26 for three at tea, a partnership of 48 helped move the score along before Vadgama took charge.

Four wickets in a single over from the bowler saw Northwood seize control of the match and with the support of Mikhil Patel (three for eight), remove the visitors for 78.

Bushey’s Farook Hameed took five for four to guide his side to a seven-wicket victory at Potters Bar Seconds.

Hameed produced a destructive spell of bowling, producing his figures from 8.4 overs to reduce Potters Bar to 100 all out in 45.4 overs. 

Supported by openers Khan (two for 36) and Qamar Shahzhad (one for 37), with a vital spell from Hussain (two for 18), Hameed ensured Potters Bar failed to impose themselves.

Bushey’s run chase began cautiously with Narenda Gogna and Chandan Sharma struggling to deal with opening bowlers Charlie Hodge (one for 36) and Brown. 

However Sharma (53 not out) and the big-hitting Shahid Ashraf (18 not out) guided Bushey comfortably in 27.2 overs with seven wickets in hand.

Speaking afterwards, captain Nomaan Ilyas said: “It was a great bowling spell by Farook but needed a batsman to see it home and Chandan certainly did that for us today.”

Division Four

Rickmansworth kept up their challenge for promotion with an eight-wicket win against Ampthill Town. 

Majid Khan did most of the damage by taking six for 33 as Ampthill were restricted to just 128. 
Rickmansworth then showed just how good the batting track was in scoring 131 for two in just 18 overs. Chris Morris was particularly destructive with 68, whilst Marty Jaynes scored 36. 

Rickmansworth need to win three of the last four games now if they are to edge into the top four.  

A disastrous batting performance from Chorleywood Seconds saw them fall to a rapid eight-wicket defeat at Berkhamsted. 

Wood chose to bat first but found themselves in all sorts of trouble from the start of their innings, which quickly subsided to 28 for eight.

Only a knock of 20 from Harry Brooks saw them even pass their half-century before being bowled out for just 53 in the 24th over.

Despite picking up a couple of early wickets, Wood were never really in the game and visitors Berko coasted home in just 16.4 overs, reaching 52 with eight wickets in hand.