Division Eight

A weakened Hemel Hempstead Fourths side succumbed to a heavy 197-run defeat against second placed his Mill Hill Village.

Hemel bowled first but struggled to contain a confident Village batting order.

They raced to 285 for four in just 40 overs and that total put them in a commanding position.

Hemel made a solid start as opener Tony Linfoot put on 27 and number three Steve Smith added 33.

However, their dismissals led to a big collapse and only one more batsman, Keiran Sarsons (10), reached double figures as Hemel were all out for just 88.

A vital partnership between Kevin Kelly and Nigel Ilott helped Langleybury Thirds claim a two-wicket win against Letchworth Garden City Fourths.

Bury captain Steve Carter won the toss and decided to insert Letchworth in the hope of dismissing them quickly before the expected rain fell.

The City openers started brightly but the introduction of Gus Ball (four for 19) brought the breakthrough as he claimed the opening wicket.

Spinner Kelly then did further damage as he claimed four for 23 and City were dismissed for 140 in the 44th over.

Langleybury lost wickets regularly throughout their reply and looked on the brink of defeat at 90 for eight.

Kelly then joined Ilott (38 not out) at the crease and they saw the home side to victory with an unbroken 51-run partnership.

Division Ten

Abbots Langley Thirds extended their unbeaten run to four matches as they defeated top of the table Frogmore by 33 runs.

Abbots batted first and Ken Parkins (29) and Neel Patel (28) got them off to a solid start.

Wickets then began to fall at regular intervals but a late surge from Will Graves (43) and Andrew Rueth (30) helped Abbots end on 198 for nine.

A confident Frogmore side then lost early wickets as they struggled to contend with some hostile bowling from Dan Roche (three for 13).

Andrew Rueth then claimed three for 33 to wrap up the innings on 165 with three overs to spare.

A disappointing batting performance proved costly for Northwood Thirds as they were beaten by six wickets against Boxmoor Seconds.

Northwood started the game at the crease but were skittled in 35 overs.

Raveena Lakhtaria scored 34 as Wood could only reach 117.

They left the bowlers too much to do and despite losing four wickets, Boxmoore eased to victory in 30 overs.

Kings Langley Thirds kept their promotion hopes alive with an impressive five-wicket win against fourth-placed side Sandridge Seconds.

Sandridge won the toss and decided to bat. They made 233 for seven in 53 overs with Tom Templeton (four for 82) and Tony Thompson (two for 25) doing the damage with the ball for Kings.

Langley’s reply was led by Andrew Colquhoun (88) and Sifan Naeem (77) who both performed well. Russell Knights added 31 and their contributions helped Kings chase down the runs in the 39th over.

Chorleywood Thirds continue to struggle in Division Ten as they lost by nine wickets to fellow strugglers Datchworth.

Skipper Rob Dunstone top scored with 30 as the home side could only muster 94 before seeing Datchworth chase the runs down with the loss of just one wicket.

Division 11

Chipperfield Clarendon Thirds picked up a valuable 30 points after they claimed a six-wicket win in a low-scoring match against Northampton Exiles Thirds.

Exiles won the toss and elected to bat but a much improved bowling and fielding performance from Chipperdons, saw the home side dismissed for 66 in 21 overs.

The pick of the Clarendon bowlers was Sadaqat Bhatti who picked up three for eight.

After an early batting collapse, Chipperdons found themselves 25 for four.

But an important knock of 41 not out from George Wheeler saw the visitors reach their target in 21.4 overs.