Redbourn slipped to their first defeat of the season – losing to Northchurch by just one wicket.

It was not enough to knock them off the top of the Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League Division Three A table but it has allowed Berkhamsted to close to within 21 points.

It was as nip and tuck as the score suggests, with Northchurch gaining victory in the last over.

The visitors to Redbourn Common won the toss and elected to field and it appeared to be a good toss to win with the early wicket of Gary Sandford, out for a duck.

However, Ed Hales and Alex Salter looked to build an innings for Redbourn and put on a brilliant 50-run partnership before Hales was caught off the bowling of Tom Villa.

Salter was again involved in another promising partnership with number four George Naismith and Redbourn eased to 194-3.

But the two wickets, both taken by Northchurch’s Oli Johnson, soon changed the match.

Salter was dismissed for a magnificent 75 and Naismith for 63.

It led to a Redbourn collapse in the latter part of the innings.

With numbers five to nine getting single figure scores, Redbourn lost 5 wickets for 30 runs to finish on 222-8 off their 53 overs.

Northcurch’s innings very much mirrored Redbourn’s, with the higher order batsmen scoring many runs.

Tom Garraway top-scored with 77, closely followed by Shane Wineti on 72.

Brilliant bowling from Adam Pritchard and Conor Yorath reined it in for Redbourn, with Yorath finishing on 5-65 off 15 overs and Pritchard getting two wickets.

However, it would not be enough for Redbourn.

A stubborn partnership of just 15 runs from 85 deliveries guiding the 2nds to a draw against Botany Bay.

Having been set a target of 165-9, Redbourn managed to get to 82-7 from 47 overs to share the spoils.

Matthew Lloyd’s 5-39 was the stand-out performance.

The 3rds moved top of Division Nine B with an 84-run victory over Abbots Langley 3rds.

Steve Thorne hit 80 as Redbourn got to 190.

Four wickets for four runs from Mark Orchard helped the 4ths to an eight-wicket success over Rickmansworth.