Saracens Herts League Division Three London Colney (245-9) beat Chipperfield & Clarendon (220) by 25 runs LONDON Colney bounced back from their defeat by Shenley on the opening day of the season to record their first win of the year with an away victory

Saracens Herts League Division Three

London Colney (245-9) beat Chipperfield & Clarendon (220) by 25 runs

LONDON Colney bounced back from their defeat by Shenley on the opening day of the season to record their first win of the year with an away victory against a strong looking Chipperfield & Clarendon side in an absorbing game which swung several times between the two sides.

After winning the toss the home side elected to field, and initially looked to be cruising to a comfortable win, as the first five Colney wickets crumbled away for just 60 runs.

Alex McCartney went on to score a fine 69, sharing 50 partnerships first with Tony Holloway (31) and then Atlav Anvardeen (53). When Anvardeen was joined by Vanarkadi (37), the two young Sri Lankans set about the C&C bowling with some aggressive hitting, and the Colney late order was eventually able to lift the score to 245-9, a much better return than the start had promised.

For Chipperfield and Clarendon, Durrant was the main bowler, taking 7 -106 from 19 overs. The start of Chipperfield and Clarendon's innings also looked to be taking the game away from Colney as Moore (50) and McNicol (40) put on 100, before David Goff broke the partnership, and Anwardeen (2-46) dismissed the other opener.

With the door prised open, skipper Scott Hadley turned to Paul Wise, who took 5-37 as, with the aid of two run outs, the home side's middle order crumbled. A partnership of 57 between Wise (32) and Churchill (34) was the only other contribution of note, and the last five wickets fell for just 27 runs as Colney claimed the win to get their season going.

l The second XI meanwhile slipped to a disappointing defeat away to St Albans III in a match they feel they might have done better in.

Winning the toss and choosing to field, Colney made quick inroads into the St Albans top order, with Connor Dow dismissing Hancock early. Trevor Ray ripped out the middle order with a spell of 6-49, and the St Albans innings didn't really get going until late on, when the tail enders rallied to lift the final total to 157.

The game was in the balance pretty much throughout the second innings. Joel Lambrick stuck around with 27 and Danny Webster-Smith hit an aggressive 31, but St Albans were able to take wickets regularly.

At seven wickets down, with only a handful of runs needed and captain Adam Stuart at the crease, Colney looked the likely winners, but the last three wickets fell cheaply and St Albans were left winners by just six runs.