Division Three Hemel Hempstead II 211-8 (53.0) London Colney 192-10 (45.3) LONDON Colney were hit by the loss of several players as they took on Hemel Hempstead II at Shenley Village Ground on Saturday. Stand-in skipper Scott Hadley won the toss

Division Three

Hemel Hempstead II 211-8 (53.0) London Colney 192-10 (45.3)

LONDON Colney were hit by the loss of several players as they took on Hemel Hempstead II at Shenley Village Ground on Saturday.

Stand-in skipper Scott Hadley won the toss and felt his only chance of a win was to bat second and chase. His limited bowling attack did a good containing job with Uzman Zaman bowling unchanged throughout the innings to pick up 4-76 from 27 overs, and Tim Fretter backed him up with 2-61 from 16.

Crucially Colney were lacking the strength in their change bowling and when Clark (42) and West (76) hit out they were able to take 73 runs from 10 overs.

Only the fact that Zaman was able to bowl half the innings overs at less than three-an-over meant the visitors had to settle for a relatively modest total of 211-3.

The story of Colney's reply was essentially one of not getting the start they would have needed from the top five.

Opener Paul Wise stuck around to make a gritty 37, but when he was out Colney fell to 74-4. The middle order made a brave attempt to bring the game back to Colney with runs from Tony Holloway (22) Scott Hadley (55) and Tim Fretter (22) but were never able to quite overcome the bad start.

Freebrey, at second change for Hemel Hempstead was the pick of the bowlers, claiming 4-35, while Lynch and Hutcheon wrapped up the tail to leave Colney all out on 192, just 19 runs short of their target.

London Colney II lost in a bad tempered clash away at Hexton in Division Seven of the Saracens Herts League.

Winning the toss, and seeing a pitch that looked as if it might cause problems, Colney skipper Paul Seymour invited the home side to bat, and saw them struggle throughout.

Trevor Ray broke the opening partnership, and Ian Wise picked up a couple of wickets, before Smith (38) and Weeks (30) turned the game back to Hexton.

Not for the first time this season, the reduced pace of John Gibbons proved a complete bafflement for batsmen, as he picked up 5-29 from eight overs, as Hexton went from a position of relative comfort to all out for 148.

The score was better than it looked on a pitch that was offering spiteful variations in bounce. Colney's in-form batsman Mitch Bradley fell to a short pitch ball that hit the bottom the stumps, and when top scorer Jerry Fretter (29) went the same way, breaking a stand of 42 with Trevor Ray, Colney knew they were in trouble.

The middle order showed the fragility it has shown all season, and it was left to the tail to make a fight of it.

Ian Wise and the two youngsters Will Northage and George Ray all made double figures, and for a while a result looked possible, but in the end the top order hadn't put them close enough, and Colney lost by 12 runs. Colney felt the match was not played in particularly good spirit in conditions that were less than ideal for league cricket.