West Herts went down to a narrow 31-run defeat against Bishops Stortford in a loss which saw their up and down form this season continue at pace.

They remain fifth in the Hertfordshire Cricket League despite the loss, due to rivals Radlett failing to overcome Welwyn Garden City in their clash this weekend.

Bishops Stortford won the toss and elected to bat first against a Stags bowling attack lacking the key figures of Will Jones and Dan Woosley.

Without the duo available to open the bowling, Herts were always likely to struggle with ball in hand and relied heavily on their spinners.

Their best efforts couldn’t prevent Stortford accumulating 267-7 from their innings to leave Stags facing an uphill task to take anything from the game.

Matthew Smith was the most effective of the Herts attack on his way to picking up 2-44, while Nikhil Borkhatria (2-46) and Ian Gurney (2-60) also chipped in with two wickets apiece.

Stags gave a good account on themselves in their chase as Jaahid Ali and Alistair Lewis both made half-centuries before being dismissed for 55 and 53 respectively.

However, with Smith’s 34 being the only other genuine contribution, Herts came up just short in their chase and finished on 232-8.

West Herts continue their campaign on the road against a Potters Bar outfit which is in good form and sitting third in the table on Saturday.

Joe Cooke’s century stand wasn’t enough to prevent Radlett falling to a five-wicket defeat against Welwyn Garden City on Saturday.

Following on from that game, Stags have just two more matches to play and conclude their season with meetings against North Mymms and Welwyn Garden City.

Radlett’s number three hit eight sixes and eight fours on his way to a stand of 125 as he led his side to a score of 255-8 from their 45 overs.

The away side would surely have had more to show from their innings had it not been for the failure of the rest of the Radlett order to make an impact.

Only three more members of the Radlett XI managed to even make a start with Will Wright (27), Randeep Sanghera (26) and Tom Jenkins (20) all making some sort of contribution with the bat.

A duck for Joseph de Caires, two from Chris Arul, four from Matthew Rose and five from Charlie Nicholls undermined the Radlett effort.

Regardless, the total Radlett managed to post gave them a chance to come away from the game with a victory.

They would ultimately fall short of their 10-wicket target, however, as Welwyn Garden City reached the required total in the 45th over.

Having led the way with the bat, Cooke carried his form into the field and was Radlett’s most productive bowler as he took two wickets from his seven overs to finish with 2-43.

De Caires managed to do more while bowling than he did batting to collect 1-37, while Anthony Hill (1-50) and Sanghera (1-57) also contributed to the Radlett cause.

The defeat is the latest in a tough season for Radlett and they currently sit seventh in the Hertfordshire Cricket League Premier Division with three games left to play this season.

Their hopes of returning to winning ways on Saturday appear to be limited as they take on league-leaders Totteridge Millhillians on home soil.

Totteridge are five points clear at the summit of the table and have lost four games all season.

Radlett’s end of season run-in then sees them play Harpenden away from home before concluding the league campaign with the visit of Hertford on September 1.

Championship side Hemel Hempsted were let down by an off colour batting performance which allowed Dunstable to claim a 60-run win on Saturday.

They looked to have put themselves in a strong position with the ball when dismissing Dunstable for 188.

It was a bowling display in which the wicket taking duties were shared by Brett Penny (3-44), Rory Fraser (2-12), Johan Maritz (2-24) and Parth Mehta all impressed.

Their efforts were to be undone by the Hemel batting display and they never looked like threatening the Dunstable total with willow in hand.

The top order were largely at fault for coughing up cheap wickets and Maritz’s 19 was the best offering from the top five.

The Hemel total was kept afloat by number six Jack Doodson as he came in and batted with resilience to score an unbeaten 41.

A dearth of support down the order left him stranded at the strikers end as he watched the final wicket fall in 40th over.

For Abbots Langley a clash with Totteridge Millhillians Seconds in Division Two A provided little respite in what has been a testing 2018 campaign.

Batting first, Abbots were unable to stop their opponent getting over the line in their chase with five wickets to spare.

The home side had to once again make do without a host of first team regulars and were under pressure from the moment Millhillians won the toss.

Their opening three overs at the crease produced just three runs for the loss of a wicket and Abbots never really recovered from the sluggish start.

They were ultimately all out for 120 in the 44th over after Sharuck Nvaee had caused the majority of the damage with figures of 3-15.

After posting such a meagre total, Abbots were always likely to be hard pushed to prevent Millhillians getting over the line.

There was a brief moment of hope when Abbots reduced Millhillians to 60-4, but they took just one more wicket in the defeat, but they would take just one more wicket for the remainder of the game.