SHL Division Three Wheathampstead 187-9 beat Rickmansworth 185 all out by one wicket WHEATHAMPSTEAD recorded a vital victory as they battle to pull themselves away from the foot of the table. Up against an improving Rickmansworth side, Wheato won the tos

SHL Division Three

Wheathampstead 187-9 beat Rickmansworth 185 all out by one wicket

WHEATHAMPSTEAD recorded a vital victory as they battle to pull themselves away from the foot of the table.

Up against an improving Rickmansworth side, Wheato won the toss and fielded first.

They got off to the best possible start when Adam Robbins got Khamber playing too early and dollied a simple catch to the keeper.

However, this early success was short lived as Shammi (43), Iggy (46) and Zawar (41) batted positively with half chances eluding fielders.

Rickmansworth did not capitalise on these good starts though and Zaf Iqbal's partnership breaking spell of 2-27 off five overs was essential.

This opened the way for the bowlers to tighten the screw and Wheato's performance was top drawer as only 47 runs were conceded in the last 20 overs with Nick Weaver 12.3-1-56-4, Keith Martin 16-6-39-2 and Hashmi 9-5-12-1 all doing their bit.

Rickmansworth ended on 185-10 in 51.3 overs.

In reply Wheato quickly lost their openers with only 14 on the board. Hussain and Weaver knuckled down to rebuild the innings and good progress was being made until an unfortunate run out at 30-3.

Nick Weaver continued to bat well and played the anchor role to make a chanceless 51 before top edging a catch to mid-on.

The next five batsmen all made double figure contributions with the Robbins(20)-Ledger (15) partnership of 33 looking like sealing the victory.

However, a nick behind and a stumping were eagerly taken by an 'enthusiastic' Ricky team who started to scent an opportunity for a win.

At 170-9 the last wicket pairing of Dave Arbuthnott and Keith Martin still needed 16 for the win.

Cool heads prevailed and Arbuthnott's contribution of 8no in a highly pressured situation saw Wheato home for an exciting win with one over left in the game.

A much needed 30 points and a confidence building victory ahead of next week's game against London Colney.

WCC II were asked to bat on a green, wet wicket that made batting difficult. Wheato started well with Dillan Yogendra (29) and Eamonn Keane (25) taking the score up to 62-2 in 25 overs. Three wickets then fell cheaply before Dave Stevens pulled Wheato back into the reckoning with a hard hit 30. Useful contributions from Tree (16) and McEwen (19no) took the score up to 153-10 but significantly six overs were not used up. Sawbridgeworth also got off to a good start putting on 52 for the first wicket with Elkins (38) and Burrell (31) batting well. A change of bowling saw David Dabare and Chris Dilkes start their lengthy spells and with run containment and more importantly regular wickets being taken. Sawbridgeworth slipped from 80-3 to 144-8 leaving the home side needing nine runs in their 53rd over. Only eight runs were conceded and Wheato scraped an unexpected draw with Dabare's 18-5-56-3 and Dilke's 16-6-38-3 bowling spells taking the plaudits.

After the game Tim Kiek was pleased to see WCC II's back into fourth place in the league and is confident of still bagging one of the promotion spots this year.

Amazingly despite the showery conditions the match was completed with Wheato's Sunday XI posting a score of 193-2 off 41 overs thanks to Ian Winchester's 83no and the in-form Adam Robbins taking his seasons runs past 500 with an ebullient 62no.

After the Redbourn opener Naismith departed for 32 caught off the wily bowling of Steve Smith (12-5-27-3) it was relatively plain sailing as the Redbourn Colts found David Dabare (2-16) and Alan Bates (2-18) difficult to get away. To cap a straight forward win skipper Peter Robbins took the last wicket with his rarely seen 'offers' and ended his spell with 3-0-0-1.