Bourn held to draw by Preston

SHL Division 3

Preston 184-9

Redbourn 157-8

Match Drawn

REDBOURN’S early season struggles continued with a hard fought draw at home to Preston.

Fielding first, Redbourn struggled to apply early pressure with too many loose balls allowing Preston to score at four-an-over through the first 10 overs.

However, two wickets in an excellent spell from Darren Bassill (2-29) helped to slow things down, both courtesy of sharp catches in the slips.

Preston continued to score freely, but regular wickets ensured Redbourn stayed in the game with Steve Root, Jon Fleming, Ben Roe and Dan Darvell all getting in on the act.

Darvell continued his fine start to the season finishing with figures of 2-53 from his 15 overs. Root also bowled well taking three wickets on his seasonal debut.

Some good fielding and catching helped restrict Preston to 184-9 and at the halfway stage Redbourn felt confident of recording their first win of the season.

However, Redbourn were soon in trouble in their reply, losing three wickets before 20 runs were on the board.

Captain Dan Roe and George Naismith started to dig them out of trouble with a gritty partnership before both were out in quick succession for 17 and 14 respectively.

Geoff Tookey looked in good form and in partnership with Ben Roe (20) and then Gary Sandford (12) put Redbourn in sight of victory with 60 needed to win from the final 10 overs.

When Tookey was eventually caught on the boundary for 39, hopes of victory were gone and it was left to Bassill (19) and Darvell (12) to see out the remaining overs, picking up a couple of batting points in the process.

Redbourn ended up 28 runs short on 157-8 and the match drawn.