Saracens Herts League Division Three Wheathampstead (180-7) beat Clifton (178-9) by four wickets THE Wheato bowlers were rubbing their hands at the sight of a green wicket and were happy enough when Clifton chose to bat first. The wicket though provided

Saracens Herts League Division Three

Wheathampstead (180-7) beat Clifton (178-9) by four wickets

THE Wheato bowlers were rubbing their hands at the sight of a green wicket and were happy enough when Clifton chose to bat first. The wicket though provided an even contest and after Adam Robbins bowled Nott for eight the Clifton top order batted sensibly reaching 78 after 24 overs. Ben Griffiths enjoyed early success bowling Monaghan for 27 before pulling a hamstring in his third over. Zaf Iqbal and Keith Martin then limited Clifton to two runs an over in a crucial mid innings bowling spell so after 40 overs Clifton were 125-6. In the last 10 overs Clifton upped the run rate and eventually scored 178-9 with Hashmi bowling well at the end to claim 9-4-11-4.

Wheato were confident of getting the runs with a strong batting line up and started strongly with Hashmi blasting a quick fire 58. The experienced C Nott nagged away on a good length and claimed three middle order wickets but Sam Ledger (42) and Adam Robbins (40no) again forged a match winning partnership. The end result a solid four wicket win in 44.2 overs.

Stand-in skipper Sam Ledger said after the game: "I was really nervous about this game but relieved to get some runs. It's a shame I missed two stumpings at the end so will try and concentrate right to the end next time I am keeping."

l WHEATO IIs completed a win double for the Nomanslanders with a straight forward victory over Wormley. Openers J McEwen and D Arbuthnott conceded only 36 runs in their opening 24 overs and that paved the way for Steve Booth (15-3-40-3) and Harry Swann (7-3-33-3) to whittle out the Wormley batsman at regular intervals. Froom top scored for Wormley with 23 but the final score of 145-9 never looked enough.

WCC got off to the worst possible start with both openers quacking their way back to the pavilion for ducks but a polished innings from Eamonn Keane (82no) with useful contributions from K Barrow (18) and S Booth (20) eased a win by seven wickets. Pepper bowled best for Wormley ending with 13-1-33-3.

While Skipper Tim Kiek was excited by the win he is concerned with his own batting form but believes the tide will soon turn.

l CALYPSO cricket came to Nomansland as Wheathampstead Sunday XI entertained Corinthians from East London. Although Dan Norris, Alan Bates and David Dabare each picked up two wickets but it was fair to say that all the bowlers received some 'tap' as Iyayi (46), Stomar (54) and N Mathurin (53) batted fluently to put up a rather daunting 257-7 score line after 40 overs.

Adam Robbins (24) and David Dabare (30) batted well for an opening partnership of 60. P Robbins and D Norris each scored 20 plus but a win was never in question and Wheato ended on 159-9. It was though a very entertaining afternoon with Corintheans bringing a vocal supporting crowd reminding one and all how to enjoy a day's cricket.