Scott Galloway and Jake Pankhurst’s fifth-wicket stand of 92 runs steered Harpenden to a six-wicket win over Hertford on the opening day of the Saracens Herts Premier Division season.

Newly-promoted Hertford struggled against Harpenden’s bowling attack, led by Simon White (3-41), as they posed just 164 from 49.4 overs, and last year’s play-off finalists may them pay.

Coming together in the 25th over, Galloway (53*) and Pankhurst (46*) needed just 11 more overs to score the runs needed to win the game, a feat they achieved from 64 balls and in a little under 40 minutes.

It capped a near perfect day for Nick Lamb’s Harpenden.

Hertford skipper Steven Gale nudged the first ball of the innings for two but picked out Ben Frazer with the second to give Will Jones his one and only wicket of the day. Matt Harper, promoted from the second team, struck in the eighth over to reduce Hertford to 19-2.

A Scott Ruskin (19) and Richard Leather (34) led revival guided Hertford away from danger, but it was Will Van Der Matt (17) and Chris Cook (22) who pushed them over the 100-run milestone. Still, it had taken almost 35 of their 50 overs to reach that mark thanks to the miserly bowling of Jones, who gave up 16 runs in 10 overs.

Van Der Matt played around a ball from White that cleaned up his stumps, which started off a three-wicket six-over spell that saw Richard Darwin trap Cook LBW and Lamb get the first of three wickets.

Ben Cowell did his best to run up the score with a 21-ball 19 but Harpenden remained accurate to limit the score to a very obtainable 164.

Ben Frazer has scored three consecutive half centuries for Hertfordshire this season but his form didn’t translate to Premier Division cricket after he edged his fourth delivery behind. Dan Blacktopp, another match-winner for the county, also struggled to find runs, earning nine in a 40-ball stay in the middle.

He followed Lamb back to the clubhouse after the skipper had scored 25 at the top of the order.

Gregg Cooper, in at four, added 17 before he was run out, allowing Pankhurst to join Galloway in the middle. The pair smashed four sixes and eight fours as they saw Harpenden to their first league win of the season.