HALF centuries from Redbourn’s openers was not enough as they lost to Luton Town & Indians in the opening game of the season.

Having won the toss and decided to bat Geoff Tookey (50) and George Naismith (52) put on an 82-run stand for the first wicket before the latter was trapped LBW.

Daniel Roe (0), James Bunce (1), Chris Godfrey (4) and Gary Sandford (1) all followed Naismith to the pavilion soon after as Redbourn slumped from 82-1 to 97-5.

Tookey was still battling away and with the help of Dave Irwin (15) and David Wright (11), he pushed the score up to 153-7 before he was dismissed.

Just six runs came for the last two wickets as Redbourn ended the innings on 159.

In reply Redbourn’s Jon Fleming (1-51) and Daniel Darvell (4-36) took early wickets to give the side hope.

However, Luton pushed on and despite only two telling contributions from Mahmood Ali (45) and Divyesh Patel (36), they were able to surpass the total with three wickets to spare.

Final score: Redbourn (159) lost to Luton Town & Indians 2s (160-7) by three wickets.

Redbourn 1s face Old Owens at home on Saturday.

Redbourn 2s (115-7) beat Knebworth Park 3s (114) by three wickets.

Peter Cridland’s five-wicket haul laid the foundation for Redborn 2s win over Knebworth Park 3s.

Only three of Knebworth’s batting line up – Bonsor (47), Pickering (28) and Fisher (16) – reached double figures as Cridland (5-26) tore through the order. Dean Flynn (1-18), Chris Yorath (2-15) and Greg Clark (1-22) took the other wickets as Knebworth finished on 114.

The visitors took an early wicket to bolster their chances of defending their total but Ian Pigott (19) and Chris Fleming (17) kept the scoreboard ticking over.

A flurry of wickets saw Redbourn fall to 42-4 but Antony Mauder (17) and U16 Joey Jackson (34no) steadied the ship, and with the help of Flynn (15no) Redbourn picked up all 30 points.

Redbourn 3s (181) lost to Bentley Heath 2s (183-3) by seven wickets.

BENTLEY Heath relied heavily on their batting line up to beat Redbourn.

Needing 182 runs to win, Bentley were reduced to 86-3 off 20 overs but a fourth-wicket stand from Matt Bird (50) and Kiaran Shew (57) saw them to victory. Matt Rose (1-30), Raymond Smyth (1-28) and Simon Emmins (1-32) took the wickets for Redbourn.

Earlier in the day, having elected to bat first, Chris Meyer (38), Josh Arnold (33), Toby Ashcroft (22) and Marcus Oriel (19) steered Redbourn through a small collapse from 107-3 to 109-5.

Liam Beere (15) and Smyth (14) helped Rebourn to 181.

Redbourn 4s (147-8) drew with Chorleywood (100-8)