Clifton no match for in-form London Colney

Saracens Herts League Division 3

London Colney 87-2 beat Clifton 83 by eight wickets

LONDON Colney built on last week's good result by recording an eight wicket victory over a Clifton side that in truth has struggled to be competitive in their opening matches of the season.

In the end, the visitors found Colney no more accommodating than their previous opponents as the home side ran out comfortable winners in a fairly one sided game.

After winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Clifton were in trouble from the off as Andy Cole and Altaf Anwardeen removed an opener each in the first five overs.

That was pretty much the story of the innings as none of the Clifton batsmen showed the necessary application or technique to resist the Colney bowlers, particularly Cole, who finished with a six wicket haul.

There were a few big shots from the Clifton number four who hit a bright 25, but Anwardeen and Uzman Zaman shared the other four wickets as Clifton were shot out for 83 in just 23 overs.

For a few brief moments the visitors might have entertained ideas of causing Colney some embarrassment as Paul Wise and Tim Fretter fell cheaply at the top of Colney's innings.

Former skipper Matt Bristow and current skipper Scott Hadley knuckled down to it though with a 75 run unbroken partnership, to finish on 35 and 44 respectively and win the game for Colney with eight wickets to spare, in a match which lasted little more than 40 overs in total, to give Colney a second successive win and a confidence boosting first few weeks of the season.

Only the continued failure of the opening partnerships will be giving skipper Scott Hadley on-going cause for concern.

The IIs meanwhile will be reflecting that their opening partnership was about the only thing that did work in a heavy defeat away to Northwood II.

After winning the toss and inviting the home side to bat first, Colney skipper Adam Stuart saw his side unable to contain Northwood's batsmen, particularly as key strike bowler Simon Fretter had, for the first time this season a frustrating afternoon.

Connor Dow and Trevor Ray each claimed three wickets, but Colney were on the back foot for much of the time, and despite being bowled out in the 51st over, Northwood were still able to post a commanding-looking 230.

It looked a good score and in the end it proved way more than they needed as Colney's batsmen, for the second week running, failed to click.

There were runs at the top of the order for Joel Lambrick (20) and Mitch Bradley (24), and Trevor Ray (29) and Paul Seymour (34) chipped in the middle order, but critically, six of the remaining seven batsmen made ducks and Colney found themselves stumbling to 127 all out.

The team were left wondering about their tactics as, for a second successive week, asking the opposition to bat first has seen them defeated with a small points total, and already heading towards the wrong end of the table.