Langleybury went some way to staving off the threat of relegation on Saturday, beating relegation rivals Luton Town & Indians by one wicket in Herts Division One.

Winning the toss, Luton decided to bat on a good surface and soon found themselves under pressure following a strong opening spell from Josh Godden and Billy Gage.

Wickets soon started to fall as Luton were forced to take some risks. The fine work from the seamers meant Khalid Manzoor, Langleybury’s leading wicket-taker, was able to come on and attack the middle order and Luton were bowled out for just 124 in the 43rd over.

Despite solid foundations set at 50 for one, Bury wickets soon began to fall. Nahim Amin batted well for 47, but, just as it looked like he would see Bury to a comfortable victory, an inexplicable misjudgement led him to running past a straight ball.

Only Will Oxley (22) was able to assert himself before he too gifted his wicket, leading to a finish of high tension and entertainment. When Gage, the hosts’ number 11, joined Habib Alam, 11 runs were still required.

The pair handled the pressure, chipping away at the total by scoring in ones and twos. With the scores finally level, Alam hit the ball to cover before Gage made his ground for a risky single to complete the important win.

Division Two mid-table rivals Northwood beat Cockfosters by six wickets after superb batting displays from Danny Rodgers and Cameron Unicomb.

Cockfosters batted first and set a target of 228 for seven from 53 overs before Rodgers’ unbeaten 127 and a maiden debut for Unicomb saw Northwood ease to victory, posting a score of 232 for one from just 36.2 overs.

Hemel Hempstead Seconds were comfortably beaten by second-placed Botany Bay, losing by six wickets.

Botany won the toss and put their opponents into bat, but it was a disappointing innings for Hemel as opener Neil Morgan top-scored with 28.

Dave Mudd was the second-highest run-scorer for Hemel with just 15 – an indication of their troubles with the bat as they were dismissed for 122.

Bay reached the target for the loss of four wickets after Bryan Davies had taken two for 45.

Met Police Bushey travelled to Southgate Adelaide looking to take maximum points to maintain top spot in the division and a superb bowling display by Daniel Nightingale enabled them to achieve it in fine fashion with a seven-wicket win.

Having won the toss, Division Three side Southgate elected to bat first but Nightingale was soon among the wickets as he took two quick scalps.

First the opener was caught behind and then the number three was bowled after attempting a big hit.

Nightingale went on to take a further five wickets to end with superb figures of seven for 35 from his 15.3 overs.

Simon Hamilton picked up two wickets and Steven Clarke claimed the other one as Southgate were all out for 79 in 30.3 overs.

Gareth Thomason and Urvish Upadhyay opened the batting but the latter departed early on.

But Thomason (52) and Harry Blagden then set Met well on their way to the target before Blagden was dismissed.

His replacement, Karsh Patel, couldn’t add to the score but by that stage only five runs were required and Thomason and Hamiton saw their side safely over the line.

Abbots Langley are level on points with second-placed Old Owens despite falling two wickets short of victory against Potters Bar Seconds.

Langley were put into bat but led by Chris Chellow (103), they made a fine start. He was supported by captain Michael Burgess (53), Sam Bailey (31) and Matt Parkins (29) as they put together a competitive score of 271 for eight in 48 overs.

Potters Bar were always behind the clock as Chellow took three wickets and Andrew Parkins got two cheap scalps but Bar held on for the draw at 183 for eight.