On yet another sunny day, the course of the game at Cobden Hill was virtually decided before a ball had been bowled.
Stags skipper, Cole Seggery, continued his unlucky run and lost his eighth successive toss. For the statistically minded, the chance of that happening is 1 in 250. Radlett inserted the visitors on a morning ideal for batting.
Tactically, this is a very aggressive move if you plan to chase the target set by the opposition, or a very defensive move if you plan to block out to secure a draw. The league points system penalises the latter approach.
West Herts innings started in familiar fashion with the opening pair dominating with Patel (41) and Faleel (117 no).
Read more
School broken into FOUR times as equipment destroyed by 'devastating vandalism'
Halifax brand to vanish after 173 years as Lloyds confirms major banking overhaul
This pair have now set an incredible record having surpassed 1,000 runs between them in just eight games into the season.
The Stags innings ended in farcical fashion with two identical run-outs whilst chasing quick runs. Perera (50) was the other major contributor to the final score of 289-6. Faced with this score, Radlett needed to chase down the runs to secure enough points to lift them out of the relegation battle at the bottom of the table.
After 17 overs their score stood at 57-4 and a Stags victory looked on the cards. A spirited partnership of 87 between Shovkar (42) and Fielding (48) lifted Radlett’s prospects.
At 139-4 the asking rate for a win was still only around 6 an over and for a winning draw even less. However, wickets began to fall and Radlett’s aspirations were reduced to getting their third batting point which was celebrated with much cheering from the boundary.
The final score of 228-8 off 59 overs was 61 runs short of their target, leaving the West Herts team very frustrated. The last 17 overs resulted in 42 runs with the field clustered around the bat.
Garrett was the most successful West Herts bowler with 3-47 off 18 overs. West Herts' tally of 18 points left them third in the table whilst Radlett’s 6 points left them just 6 points off the bottom of the Premiership.
Elsewhere in the league there were wins for West Herts' second, third, and fifth teams.
The Stags bowlers were in fine form with Ryan Woosley taking 5-18 for the second team in their 67-run win over Radlett, whilst Josh Stevens picked up 6-26 in the third team's three-wicket win over Shenley.
Kenodh Wijesinghe took 4-20 in a losing cause in the fourths against Edgwate and there were figures of 3-28 for Dillon Mahawatte in the fifths in their win over Bushey and finally 3-25 for Irshad Amir in the sixths who went down to Langleybury.
Share