Of all the ways Kings Langley could have envisaged causing an upset to reach the Watford Observer Fourteen14 Shield, it is safe to assume bowling Radlett out for just 70 and cruising to a ten-wicket victory would not have been anywhere near the top of their list.

But that was exactly what happened at Abbots Langley’s ground yesterday evening as Christian James’ side humbled the Herts League Premier Division big guns in a manner that no one would have foreseen.

Kings’ reward is a first final appearance since 2006 when the won the trophy for the only previous occasion against Hemel Hempstead. Standing in their way at West Herts’ home on Wednesday, July 5 will be first-time finalists Northchurch following their 64-run win over Abbots Langley on Tuesday.

Although both semi-finals ended in emphatic victories, the way in which the games unfolded was very different.

Northchurch’s final place was earned off the back of a dominant batting performance before they went on to produce a superior display in all facets of the game. For Langley though, it was a case of producing some good bowling and fielding – with a couple of notable exceptions – but there is also a strong argument for suggesting Radlett beat themselves.

The Cobden Hill side may have been the highest ranked side in the competition in terms of divisional status, but they only had two first-team players in their side. That said, their opponents were far from at full Saturday league strength as well.

But the make-up of the team cannot excuse the way in which Radlett lost four of their wickets through run outs, two of which were ridiculous.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, Radlett’s problems began from the outset when Troy Barrett was bowled for a duck by James off the seventh ball of the match and fellow opener Kurilyn Mannikim (2) followed two deliveries later to the first of the run outs.

Four-for-two should have become 19-3 off the first delivery of the fourth over when James shelled a straightforward chance to catch Randeep Sanghera in Andew Burnell’s second over.

But having scored some boundaries, the 31-run third-wicket alliance was broken in the fifth over when Burnell kept his composure to catch Chris Gallagher (17) on the boundary to give James (2-29 from four overs) his second wicket.

New batsman Buddhika Wickramasinghe (4) was put down by Scott Rolfe in the next over, but his stay of execution was to last just one delivery as he was trapped leg before wicket by Burnell (2-25 from 4).

Although Radlett were in difficulty at 45-4 by the end of the sixth over, a good partnership could still have seen them go on to post a challenging total. Instead, they capitulated within the space of five deliveries in the eighth over.

Sanghera was the first to perish for a top score of 26, dragging a Burnell delivery onto his stumps, while captain Nav Sidhu lasted just two deliveries before he was run out. And two balls later Rafsan Zaman survived a leg before wicket appeal, but seemed to switch off and be unaware that he was out of his ground as wicketkeeper Tom Clark reacted smartly to snatch the ball and throw down the stumps to make it 54-7.

That was bad enough and after Martin Jones (3) perished in the ninth over, there was to be more run-out farce in the 11th over when an awful misunderstanding left Rob Millard and Charlee Eve-Raw (1) both stranded at the non-striker’s end, with the latter the one to trudge from the field disconsolate.

The final pair of Millard (1) and Dylan Gunasekera (3 not out) did manage to see off another 14 deliveries, before the former was caught by Liberty Maher to give Varman Ratnakunaran (2-5 off 2.3) his second wicket as Radlett collpased to 70 all out with 12 balls of their innings remaining.

But their shortcomings were not to end with the bat.

James opted to open with two youngsters in Rolfe and David Burnell. But when a side is trying to defend a very low total, the last thing it should do is concede preventable runs. By the end of the second over Kings were 21-0 with 13 of that total conceded in wides by Sanghera and Sidhu.

Although the openers had to be watchful against Sanghera’s pace, and Mannikam caused problems as his spin generated some prodigious turn and bounce, the Kings openers were content to bide their time, keep the scoreboard ticking over before Rolfe hit the winning four from the fifth delivery of the ninth over.

He finished on 18 not out, 10 behind his unbeaten partner, but extras contributed 27 to Langley’s victorious cause with 43 deliveries to spare.