Northwood Town finally clinched their first Division Four A win of the season with a dominant seven-wicket success over Northampton Exiles.

Town were forced into the field first but managed to dismiss their opponents for 169. Kyle Lawrence, with three for 35, led the attack with a spell of aggressive bowling.

Skipper Michael Lister picked up two quick wickets in his spell to leave the Exiles reeling on 82 for seven.

The inevitable fightback ensued and Exiles' dangerous tailenders went on the attack to move past 100 and then diligently got to work in batting out their full allocation of overs to keep them in the game with a total of 169.

With 52 off the first five overs, Town had made the positive start that they needed and there was no let up from there. After Lister departed with 47 from 32 balls, Akshay Loomba went on to record his first half century of the season with some delightful cover drives, mixing attack and defence with great maturity.

Suvin Mekwan joined the vice captain and continued the onslaught with three huge sixes, superbly crafting an innings of 49 off 35 balls which killed off any hope of an Exiles comeback. After Loomba fell for 56, the star of the season Kyle Lawrence took Town towards the winning line as they reached the target in just 25.5 overs.

Langleybury Seconds' winning run in Division Four B came to an end as they were held to a draw with Harpenden Thirds.

Harpenden won the toss and batted first. After an early breakthrough, Ben Cawood (106) and Mark Fettes put on 153 which allowed Harpenden to declare on 246 for five after 50 overs. The pick of the bowlers was Ollie Ilott with three for 69.

In reply, Danny Walker (110) held the innings together with a superb batting display and at 159 for four, a win was possible, but as the scoring rate increased, wickets fell and Langleybury finished 37 runs short of victory on 210 for seven.

In Division Five A, Hemel Hempstead Town Thirds fell to a four-wicket defeat to Radlett Thirds.

After being put into bat, Hemel were dismissed for 172. Suren Perera managed 54 along with 27 for Liam Jahn but Radlett bowler Jim Lewish was hard to stop as he claimed five for 42.

Radlett only needed 34.2 overs to reach the target with four wickets to spare. Lewis continued his impressive form by opening with 74 in a match-winning display. Anjam Khan took three for 53 and Rahul Wickramsinghe picked up two for 23 for beaten Hemel.

Chipperfield Clarendon Seconds lost by 39 runs to Shenley Village Seconds in Division Five B.

Shenley won the toss and batted on a perfect wicket at Chipperfield. Poor catching again cost Chipps, but four for 44 from Mahmood saw Shenley close on 193 for seven from 53 overs.

Chipperfield had the worst possible start losing Freddy Hampson in the first over. This was followed quickly by Nathan Wiles and when Chris Buckingham fell the score was 18 for three. Josh Gurney (43) and Shawn Mepham (58) took the score to 135 before Mepham was out. This brought a collapse and Chipps were all out for 154.

Kings Langley Seconds fell to a six-wicket defeat to Botany Bay Seconds in Division Six A.

The toss was always going to be critical with a very weakened bowling attack but Kings lost it and were inserted into bat.

Having made an excellent start thanks to 13-year-olds Scott Rolfe (51) and David Burnell (38), the innings lost momentum until a late flurry by Richard Whitlock took Kings to 200 for eight.

This seemed 20 runs short and so it proved with Kings unable to take crucial early wickets. Botany Bay got home for the loss of four wickets with an over to spare.

In Division Six B, Abbots Langley Seconds' relegation fears increased after suffering a ten-wicket hammering against Boxmoor.

The side produced a poor batting performance with only veteran Ken Parkins on 27 showing any resistance to the accurate Boxmoor attack. Abbots were skittled out for a mere 95 and Boxmoor needed just 25.2 overs to knock off the runs without losing any wickets.

Northwood Town Seconds claimed a five-wicket victory over Division Eight A title contenders St Albans Thirds.

Having been sent into the field, Town began with tight spells from Silva and Maulin Patel. St Albans reached 152 for two before Northwood turned to Mihir Patel. His form with the ball, as he claimed five for 23, helped dismiss St Albans for 195 which was some way short of the total anticipated during their innings.

In response Town started solidly. Harshil Palan and Mihir Patel added quick runs before departing to put Town in charge. Though a mini collapse saw Town briefly bring the visitors back into the game, there was still the immovable Ravi Ramawat to contend with when Maulin Patel came to the crease.

It wasn't long before the score started to accelerate rapidly and Town's batsmen were dominating the contest.

An enormous six over midwicket from Maulin Patel brought up his maiden fifty and Town's third win in four.

Langleybury edged to an 11-wicket victory over Great Gaddesden to climb out of the bottom two for the first time this season.

Patient knocks from Rishil Dhruva (38) and opener Graeme Roe (32) were the major contributors in the visitors' total of 172 for eight from their 53 overs.

At 138 for four the game was Great Gaddesden's to lose but Langleybury applied the pressure in the field to turn the contest around. Opener Simon Ross finished with three for 52 and there was a welcome return to form from skipper Kevin Kelly (four for 44) as the tail was mopped up and Great Gaddesden were all out for 161.