St Albans’ bowling attack ensured a first win of the season on Saturday at Botany Bay.

The Saints won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked a good wicket, but they started poorly and fell to 33-4 inside the 12th over.

Martin Jones (21) held the innings together early on but fell to Cairan Anderson to leave the visitors floundering at 39-5.

Phil Caley and Mansroor Raja set about rebuilding the innings, with the former showing particular intent with shots all around the wicket. Shortly after Raja fell for a well-made 30 and Caley brought up a flawless century off just 86 balls, taking St Albans out of the mire to a final score of 197 all out off 44.1 overs.

The Saints bowling effort started well with Ben Carroll bowling the Botany opener for six. However, good partnerships between Henry Blackwell, Dan Kastelik and Sam Phillipo saw Botany reach 137-3 in the 37th over.

The introduction of Mark Telkman (4-32) and Martin Jones (3-26) brought a flurry of dismissals, including the key wicket of Blackwell (67). After that, the bowling attack tor through the tail to leave Botany 27 runs shy of victory.