Holders Abbots Langley are one more win away from a potential successful defence of their Watford Observer Fourteen14 Shield title after a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Chipperfield Clarendon on Tuesday.

A strong display in the field set Abbots up for their quarter-final success as they bowled their opponents out for just 78 and then reached the target with more than six of the 14, eight-ball overs remaining.

The defending champions will now face Bushey in the semi-finals at Leverstock Green on Monday, with a place in the final at West Herts on Wednesday, July 10 at stake.

Although Abbots opted to field after winning the toss, they had to be patient initially as Chipperfield made a good start.

Openers Lachie Stove and Ben Scranage put on 36 before Stove was dismissed for 10, trapped leg before wicket by Anish Khiroya.

That was to prove the turning point as wickets started to tumble regularly thereafter, with the hosts stumbling to 44 for four.

Scranage went on to make 38 before he was bowled for Ravi Gokani, who went on to finish with superb figures of five for 17 as the hosts’ innings was ended after 11 overs.

Abbots openers George Agius and Matt Longworth started slowly, with the latter caught for six, and two overs later Aom Patel paid the price for being slowly out of the blocks as he was run out for four.

Will Graves made 14 before he became the third wicket to fall with the score at 48, but Simon Hamilton and Agius finished on 17 and 22 not out respectively as victory was secured with 6.1 overs left.

Watford Haidery had already secured their place in the other semi-final and they will play West Herts A at Kings Langley on Tuesday.

The Stags had been due to meet Radlett in the quarter-finals but despite efforts to arrange another new date after the game was delayed by bad weather, it was decided to settle the tie on the toss of a coin.

Organisers are disappointed this was necessary, but wish to thank both clubs for agreeing to this to avoid the competition being held up even further.

Leverstock Green A are one more victory away from winning the Fourteen14 Plate for the third time in the club’s history after a relatively comfortable eight-wicket success over West Herts B at Chipperfield Clarendon last Friday.

Victory was achieved with three overs to spare as Green passed the Stags’ 103 for nine, but the game could have been over even sooner had it not been for some diligent batting by the middle-order pair Ali Shah (16) and Abdullah Wasim (15) after the Stags had been reduced to 30 for five.

Amid a clutch of teenagers fielded by West Herts, Daniel Greenstreet top-scored with 18 as Levy applied the pressure of regular wicket-taking to restrict their opponents to a target of less than a run-a-ball from the full 14 overs batted.

In reply, openers Lewis Koch and Ben Slater hit 28 and 29 respectively to get the scoreboard ticking over steadily.

When they fell, a pair of 22 not outs saw Mahela Wijayalath and Nahim Iqbal continue the run chase with the minimum of fuss to record an eight-wicket victory and book Green A a place in the final at Abbots Langley on Thursday, July 11.

Their opponents are set to be decided next Thursday when holders Watford Grammar School for Boys face Watford Town A who defeated Langleybury by five wickets at Woodside on Monday.

The visitors made a confident start, mainly thanks to 27 from Yuvresh Malhotra, but after an opening stand of 39 the scoreboard soon read 48 for four.

Bury’s innings declined further to 69 for seven in the 12th over, before Chris Currie and Chinmay Mulapudi added 28 valuable runs to set a target of 97.

Two young spinners did the damage for Town, with Anup Vyas claiming an impressive four for 12 while Ahsan Sajjad claimed three for 24.

Defending such a low total, Langleybury needed early wickets and had two successes in the first three overs. But with an unbeaten 22 from Mohammed Syed and contributions from most of the remaining batsmen, the target was reached with nine balls to spare.

Chinmay, with three for 20, was Langleybury’s most successful bowler.

Competition dates:

Monday: Shield semi-final: Abbots Langley v Bushey (at Leverstock Green).

Tuesday: Shield semi-final: West Herts A v Watford Haidery (at Kings Langley).

Thursday: Plate semi-final: Watford Town A v Watford Grammar School for Boys (at Abbots Langley).

Wednesday, July 10: Shield final (at West Herts).

Thursday, July 11: Plate final (at Abbots Langley)

All matches are due to start at 6.15pm.