Division Three London Colney 243-5 (53.0) Eversholt 207-9 (47.0) LONDON Colney put in a fine display on the road at high flying Eversholt in Division three on Saturday. Winning the toss Colney skipper Matt Bristow opted to bat

Division Three

London Colney 243-5 (53.0) Eversholt 207-9 (47.0)

LONDON Colney put in a fine display on the road at high flying Eversholt in Division three on Saturday.

Winning the toss Colney skipper Matt Bristow opted to bat, and after a composed 20 from stand-in opener Paul Wise, saw a partnership approaching 200 between Ady Fisher and Alex McCartney take Colney to the brink of a huge score.

When McCartney was out however, for an excellent 80, it became clear that the conditions weren't quite as easy as McCartney and Fisher had made them look. Eversholt's bowlers struck back, and wickets started to fall, at one end at least. In the end, Colney posted 243-5, with Fisher not out on a superb 104, and the total looked formidable even against a team in such good form.

With the pitch a little slow, Colney opted to keep the old ball, and open with Uzman Zaman and the off-spin of the skipper, and it was tactic that initially worked, and the ball gripped, spun and jumped.

Eversholt were soon in trouble as Zaman and Bristow shared four wickets to reduce them to 46-4.

The home side's skipper shared in a century stand that brought Eversholt back into contention, but the start had put them behind the clock and the need to play big shots always gave Colney a chance.

When the partnership was broken, Colney felt the door was open and when Ady Fisher took three quick wickets, the home side found themselves nine down, and called off the chase.

The last pair were able to keep out Zaman and Simon Fretter without any real dramas, and Colney were left with the better end of a draw and a haul of 19 points. Bristow made the most of the spinner favourable conditions, taking 5-80 from 22 overs, as he and Fisher shared eight of the nine wickets to fall.

In Division Eight London Colney II entertained Eversholt II, but failed to really do themselves justice with the bat as they limped to a fairly tame draw.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat, and saw McDuell (78) and Farmer (48) post a 93 run opening partnership. When number three Ling followed up with 32, Eversholt looked to be set for a big total.

Colney skipper Paul Seymour turned to the slow bowling of Den Hadley and John Gibbon and the pair claimed six wickets between them. Gibbon picked up 4-70, and with Colney able to keep Eversholt to around four-an-over from the last 15, the visitors had to settle for 216-6 at the close.

In reply, most of the Colney's batsmen got starts, and Trevor Ray hung around in his customary anchor role to score 34. There was a bright 27 from Seymour, but by the time the 30th over had come and gone, Colney had not yet raised the run rate above three an over.

Eversholt's bowlers claimed late wickets to give themselves an outside chance, but in the end Pete Norris (18 not out) was able to hold the tail together as Colney crawled to 156-8 and two batting points.

Colney, having lost a number of last summer's successful batsmen to the first XI, must step up to avoid a struggle at the wrong end of Division Seven.