Division Seven Hexton 208-9 (53) Flamstead 110-10 (37) FLAMSTEAD suffered a disappointing defeat after a batting collapse at Hexton in Division Seven on Saturday. Skipper Andy Taylor won the toss and inserted the home side

Division Seven

Hexton 208-9 (53) Flamstead 110-10 (37)

FLAMSTEAD suffered a disappointing defeat after a batting collapse at Hexton in Division Seven on Saturday.

Skipper Andy Taylor won the toss and inserted the home side on an interesting looking wicket. Bowler Dave Rogers struck in the first over thanks to a good slip catch from Tim Wilkinson.

Rogers bagged his second wicket with the score on 28 and then off spinner Mark Ridley removed the dangerous Marshall (21).

Wilkinson bowled the Hexton skipper to reduce the hosts to 56-4 but Flamstead paid for missed chances allowing the good position to slip away. Smith (81 not out) survived two dropped catches and with Norgate (32) helped Hexton reach 208-9. Rogers finished with 5-82 off 18 overs and Wilkinson took 1-45 off 19 overs with Stephen Wright picking up Norgate.

The Flamstead reply got off to a poor start and never recovered. Taylor (22) and Matt Brown (28) were the only batsmen to make a decent start. Medium-pacer Hill picked up 7-33 off 18.5 overs with all his wickets caught close in as he made the ball pop awkwardly off a length.

Skipper Taylor was disappointed with another defeat. He said: "Our fielding was the reason we lost. If we had caught Smith early on I don't think they would have got much more than 100. The pitch certainly deteriorated and became very difficult to bat on."

Flamstead host local rivals Redbourn II with a 1.30pm start at Friendless Lane on Saturday and are anticipating an exciting fixture.