Division One St Albans 211-8 (53.0) Letchworth 170-6 (47.0) ST Albans batted well to claim the better of a draw with Letchworth at Clarence Park in Division One on Saturday. Saints won the toss and chose to bat first. Suffolk skipper Phil Caley

Division One

St Albans 211-8 (53.0) Letchworth 170-6 (47.0)

ST Albans batted well to claim the better of a draw with Letchworth at Clarence Park in Division One on Saturday.

Saints won the toss and chose to bat first. Suffolk skipper Phil Caley opened the batting in positive manner and hit 25. Number three Yasir Arafat contributed 35 before Saints stepped up the pace. Murtaza Hussain fired 56 and Kyle Sharp (35 not out) and Richard O'Toole (20 not out) ensured Saints posted 211-8 at the close. Letchworth were left frustrated as a succession of dropped catches ensured they were chasing a tough total which skipper Steve March felt should have been closer to 140.

In reply, Jimmy Goodwin had Thomas Cranston caught at square leg and fellow opener Tom Simmons was bowled by Arafat leaving Letchworth 13-2.

Arafat went on to claim 4-50 off 12 overs including danger man March (62) as Letchworth closed on 170-6 off 47 overs. Simon Elliott (30) and David Albon (44) made positive contributions before they were removed by Hussain and Arafat respectively.

St Albans II won at North Enfield to get their season back on track in Division Three on Saturday.

Saints won the toss and elected to bowl on a reasonable looking pitch. The opening bowlers took an over or two to find the right length but once discovered the pitch gave great assistance from the far end where Charles Smith returned with figures of 4-58 off 16 overs and Daniel Longhurst 3 for 35 off 16.2. Ed Hart claimed 2 for 11 off his four overs as North Enfield were all out for 170 in the 46th over.

After having NE 85 for 5 Saints felt they'd let them get about 30 too many, but with a long batting line up were rightly confident in their ability to knock of the runs.

Rowlands (54) continued his good form with his second successive 50 and was well supported by Ed Hart (43).

The innings was finished off by Raza Chaudhry (21 not out) and Mike Curtis (15 not out) giving Saints another 30 points on 174-5 lifting them close enough to the top three to keep promotion hopes alive.

St Albans III were defeated by Little B Sahibs after being inserted by the Division Seven strugglers on Saturday.

Gordon Murray batted well to score 48 and some superb play from Toby Furnivall saw him reach 80 before he was stumped. St Albans posted 179 all out off 48.5 overs.

In reply, the St Albans bowlers probably bowled a little too short, with many balls passing over the stumps or flying past the edge. LBS worked hard to hang around and gather runs when they could getting home on 180-6 with an over to spare.

St Albans will hope for more consistent availability and better personal performances as they look to recover their promotion challenge.

A straight six by James Pickles saw the 10 men of St Albans IV to victory in style over Letchworth IV at Fairfield Hall in Division 10.

A tight bowling performance had seen the opposition bowled out for 185. Mathew Kuriakose starred for Saints with figures of 3 for 13 and Andrew Walker claimed two wickets.

St Albans made hard work of the chase but good contributions from Sam Pullan (56) and Pat McCarthy (33) set up the victory charge. The final wicket partnership of David Stunt (29 not out) and Pickles (6 not out) finished the job on 187-8 off 45.3 overs.