Division Seven Flamstead 56-10 (36.1) St Albans III 57-1 (15.1) FLAMSTEAD visited St Albans III at Rothamsted Park in Harpenden on Saturday and were inserted on a bowler friendly wicket. The toss proved crucial as batting was extremely hard going.

Division Seven

Flamstead 56-10 (36.1) St Albans III 57-1 (15.1)

FLAMSTEAD visited St Albans III at Rothamsted Park in Harpenden on Saturday and were inserted on a bowler friendly wicket.

The toss proved crucial as batting was extremely hard going. After the early loss of David Oswin (2), Flamstead skipper Andy Taylor (20) and David Bradbury (11) moved the score on slowly to 34 off 20 overs. Wickets then fell regularly against the medium pace of Nick Kirwan (4-25 off 17 overs) and Amit Garg (5-18 off 13 overs). With seven batsmen under the age of 24 Flamstead struggled to 56 all out.

The Flamstead bowlers failed to extract the same amount of bounce and James Giffen (27) and Michael Eames (29 not out) guided St Albans home on 57-1.

On Sunday, the Flamstead bowlers struck back with a fine performance against Division Four side Hatfield Hyde in the Herts County Trophy competition.

Dave 'Twiggy' Rogers removed three batsmen in his first three overs and at the other end chairman Tim Wilkinson bowled six consecutive maidens and finished with 1-14 off his 10 overs.

Mills (28) and Ahmed (29) hit back for Hyde but they were soon all out for 109. Flamstead II skipper Nick Brownlie (3-21 off seven overs) and spinner Mark Ridley (2-12 off four overs) did the damage before Rogers returned to finish the job with 4-27 with all four wickets clean bowled.

Matt Brown (16) hit a straight six for Flamstead but they were soon reeling at 47-9. Wilkinson and 'Twiggy' Rogers battled sensibly for 14 overs and pushed the score up to 87. When Wilkinson (21) edged Ahmed to gully Flamstead fell just 23 runs short with 'Twiggy' Rogers undefeated on 18.

Skipper Andy Taylor was delighted with his bowlers. He said "To bowl Hatfield Hyde out for just 109 was a fantastic effort by all out bowlers and if some of our top order batsmen had batted as well as our chairman and David Rogers a win could well have been the outcome."

On Friday, June 6 Flamstead clashed with Long Marston in the Second Round of the Coronation Cup.

Flamstead batted first and could only total 55 against some fine bowling from the opposition. Only Matt Brown (17) and David Oswin (10) got into double figures as Beesley worked his way through the Flamstead innings to pick up seven wickets.

In reply, veteran duo Tim Wilkinson and Ali Cook, both aged 56 inspired a dramatic Long Marston collapse to 27-7 off 11 overs. Cook picked up 2-9 off his four eight ball overs and Wilkinson 2-15 off his four overs. Young Colt Sam Bray picked up a wicket and Phil Snowball a run out.

Long Marston recovered to 52-7 before a stunning catch from David Oswin set them back again. Finally in very dark conditions, Long Marston picked off the last four remaining runs to win a fantastic game of cricket.

Skipper Adrian Russell was delighted with the fight back shown by his Flamstead team. He said: "Both sides' bowlers were in excellent form tonight with our fielding being outstanding. To lose in such a tense finish was really disappointing having had Long Marston 27-7. Their number three batted well to see them home.