Division Three Wheathampstead 84-10 (30.0) Eversholt 88-1 (24.0) WHEATHAMPSTEAD took on Eversholt in the battle of Division Three form sides at Nomansland Common on Saturday. The hosts were asked to bat first on a glum looking wicket

Division Three

Wheathampstead 84-10 (30.0) Eversholt 88-1 (24.0)

WHEATHAMPSTEAD took on Eversholt in the battle of Division Three form sides at Nomansland Common on Saturday.

The hosts were asked to bat first on a glum looking wicket and with early wickets falling the outlook was bleak. A good stand from Sam Ledger (25) and Zaf Iqbal (13) seemed to steady the ship, however Wheathampstead's poor batting saw them perish to 83 all out.

In reply Eversholt lost an early wicket to the bowling of Nick Martin and Wheathampstead looked as if they had hope.

Unfortunately, the bad performance continued with important catches dropped and Eversholt powered home to a nine wicket victory on 88-1 off 24 overs.

After the match, despondent Wheathampstead player Chris Bates said "We simply didn't bat well enough today and the total we posted wasn't strong enough to defend. Let's hope we can return to form next week and overwhelm Totteridge Millhillians II with a blistering all round performance."

Wheathampstead II travelled to the recent amalgamated Totteridge & Old Millihillians club on Saturday and had the better of a tough Division Eight fixture.

Having lost the toss yet again, WCC batted first and had to work hard against good line bowling from Ali Navaee (5-45) and Lyall. Tim Kiek (24) maintained his recent good form and Keith Martin (26) chipped in before the arrival of Eammon Keane who batted with exquisite timing for 72. The late order batsmen all did well with Peter Robbins (20) and a super six from Trevor Smith (14) high into the woods guiding WCC to 186-9 off their 53 overs.

In return WCC took the old ball and opened with spin bowlers Phil Turner and Rob Alvis before seam bowling was introduced and Martin trapped Golojdas LBW for 12. Trevor Smith (7-0-19-2) then lured Pratt into a misjudged cut to point and foxed Ahmed with a slower bowl, LBW for a duck. Although Goldsmith (47) and Shah (28) showed more determination Wheato had the upper hand and David Dabare's leg spin in the closing stages yielded two more wickets.

T&M ended 12 runs short on 174-7 and the WCC players were pleased with their 15 point haul. After the match the absent skipper Lozza Garland said: "I don't know how I can justify picking myself next week after this excellent team result."

On Sunday WCC XI travelled the short distance to Redbourn and played a 40 overs game. Useful batting practice for Steve Booth (50) and a season best for skipper Andy Alexander (20 not out) were the highlights but also useful contributions from David Arbuthnott (26) and Dave Stevens (27) for WCC in their total of 171-9.

Redbourn were confident of getting the runs and looked good as openers Dobson (24) and Ascroft (53) batted with ease. The match changed when Adam Robbins (7-3-13-3) was too hot to handle and David Arbuthnott (7-0-31-0) and Dan Norris (6-0-17-1) helped keep the runs down as WCC sealed victory by 21 runs.