Premier Division

Radlett climbed to the top of the table after a convincing six-wicket win at home to Letchworth Garden City on Saturday.

The hosts won the toss and opted to put their opponents into bat. Letchworth cobbled together a score of 215 for nine from 60 overs. Kabir Toor caught the eye with the ball as he snared three for 61 from 17 overs. Shane Burger picked up two for 17 and Ben Lederman finished with figures of two for 33.

Radlett made a solid start to their run chase with Fraser Crawford opening with a knock of 35. Toor hit 30 and Joe Cooke chipped in with 32. The top scorer was captain Jonathan McLean as he hit 88 off 76 balls. His performance guided the side to a comfortable victory as they reached the target for the loss of 43.1 overs.

Ali Leighton’s century was not enough to secure victory for Hemel Hempstead Town, who were beaten by seven wickets at Potters Bar.

Inserted, Hemel made a disappointing start and saw openers Brett Penny (25) and Hemish Ilangaratne (0) removed all too quickly.

Jay O’Nien (16) made a minimal impression on the scoreboard before Sam Jenkinson (48) finally built some momentum only to be trapped leg before wicket.

Further uninspiring knocks from Vibhor Yadav (11) and Ed Langley (5) had Hemel in real trouble before Leighton crashed 14 fours and four sixes en route to an unbeaten 102.

That gave Hemel a good total of 270 for nine to defend but they were unable to.

James Scott (65) and Nick McLachlan (62) got the hosts’ reply off to the ideal start and they never looked back, cantering to 272 for three to leave their opponents still without a win.

Championship

West Herts suffered a five-wicket home defeat to Hoddesdon as their search for a first league success of the season continued.

The hosts opted to bat first after winning the toss but did not take advantage of this as they were bowled out for 187.

Matthew Smith top-scored with 47 while Alastair Lewis hit 23. Joe Warren scored 29 along with 36 from Barry Marshall and 24 from Duncan Hodges down the order.

But Hoddesdon comfortably chased down the total with five wickets to spare in 47.2 overs. Daniel Woosley tooke two for 37 and Smith came away with figures of two for 47.

Langleybury were left frustrated after having to settle for a draw from their game against Reed.

After winning the toss, Langleybury opted to bat first. Will Oxley was out early, before Nahim Amin (67) joined Mo Manzoor (39) in a partnership of 78.

Chetan Depala came in and batted until the end with a dominant unbeaten knock of 91 which helped take Langleybury to a competitive total of 235 all out.

In reply, Reed skipper James Heslam scored a run-a-ball 56 before he was second out, stumped by Richard Soulsby off the bowling of Ross Channer with the score on 74.

Channer continued to take wickets (six for 47) and Reed were 117 for seven in the 41st over. The eighth wicket fell at 153 with 12 overs remaining, but Phillip Lill (50 not out), who had earlier taken five for 62, built an unbeaten ninth-wicket partnership of 49 to steer Reed to safety on 207 for eight.

Chorleywood go into this weekend’s Championship basement battle with West Herts having just missed out on 30 points as they fell agonisingly short of victory against Shenley Village.

Shenley batted first and put on a decent, although not spectacular total of 246 for six from their 60 overs, with Dave Bushnell the pick of the Wood bowlers with three for 63 from 16 overs.

In reply, Wood constructed a number of strong-looking partnerships, but were never able to completely break the shackles imposed by a tight Shenley attack.

James Rose and Jeremy Hinds joint top-scored with 46 apiece, before some late hitting from Jonathan Rice (28 not out) bought Wood to the brink before they fell just five runs short of the win as they finished on 242 for eight in the drawn contest.

Division One

Kings Langley moved within 11 points of the promotion places with a comfortable four-wicket win over St Margaretsbury.

Mark Brazier struck in the very first over to remove Simon Tilbury and from then on Kings Langley continued to turn the screw, limiting the flow of St Margaretsbury runs.

Although wickets were hard to come by, Kings bowled as tightly as they have all year and restricted their opponents to just 202 for six from their 53 overs with Dan Donaldson taking three for 53 and Shandy Ratnakumaran claiming two for 19.

Despite losing David Burnell early on, the Kings top order tore into the St Margaretsbury attack, plundering 71 from the first ten overs.

Ricky Mohammed starred with the bat, scoring a typically free-flowing 121 which saw the ball regularly dispatched into the trees.

With Mohammed in such explosive form Kings were soon over the winning line, with four wickets in hand after 36.3 overs, to leave them looking forward to a top-of-the-table clash with Ampthill Town this weekend.