St Albans knock Knebworth Park off the top with a comprehensive victory

St Albans jumped up to second in Herts Cricket League Division Two A after a comprehensive win away at league leaders Knebworth Park.

The 106-run success has dropped Park to third and came on a very soggy and muddy pitch.

Skipper Max Capaldi knew a cautious start was required, especially when asked to bat first, but with himself scoring 22 and solid contributions from Joe Regan (19), and Harry Jerome (31), Saints got themselves to 105-5 in 28 overs.

Variable bounce had contributed to all five being caught but remarkably the final 12 overs in the reduced contest garnered 98 runs.

Ollie Coulman got 23 of them while Joshua Mulvaney bagged 33 from 26 deliveries and Simon White 29 not out in 22, the latter scoring a big six.

It left St Albans on 203-9 and Knebworth never got close to troubling that.

The hosts struggled to 20-4 and ended up all out for 97 in the 28th over. Harry Seagrave claimed 3-18 while there was 2-18 from Billy May and 2-3 from Dan Bayliss in 2.2 overs.

St Albans are also looking to continue the growth of their women's team who continue to go from strength to strength.

Ladies of all ages and abilities are welcome and to help they are holding a festival on July 18 with the first training session on July 7 at 6pm.

Harpenden and Radlett were the big winners in the Premier Division with both sides playing to victory in two of the three games to get a positive result.

Harpenden's victory over Hoddesdon came by the margin of just five runs and lifts them up to second, 16 points behind leaders Potters Bar.

Forced to bat first, they made 144, a second-wicket partnership of 61 between James Latham (42) and Arthur Garrett (24) the main reason for that although a stoic and patient 22 not out from Jake Pankhurst late on certainly did not go amiss.

The target was revised to 145 from 56 overs and Hoddesdon had plenty of overs left to get the runs, the problem was the number of wickets falling.

The loss of Jayden Broodryk for 45 was a blow to the visitors' hopes and although Sam Davis did his level best, the Harpenden bowlers sensed blood in the water.

Jack Doyle and Garrett began to turn the screw and when Davis was caught by Ashley Sivarajah off the bowling of the former, Hoddesdon were 135-9.

They got four more runs before Doyle struck again in his next over, leaving him on 4-11 and Hoddesdon five runs short.

Garrett finished with 3-31 and skipper Nick Lamb managed 2-29.

Radlett meanwhile beat basement club Reed by eight wickets to jump up to fifth.

They won the toss and bowled the whipping boys out for 66, Randeep Sanghera bagging 5-13 while there was two wickets for Noah Cornwell.

The reply was done and dusted inside 10 overs. Josh De Caires thumped 39 from 20 balls, eight of them going for four, while Dominic Chatfield remained unbeaten on 29.