Hertford 1s beaten by strong North Mymms side

North Mymms won the toss and asked Hertford to bat first on a wicket which looked worse for wear after the recent spell of wet weather. Tidy spells from the Mymms opening pair of Bridgens and Wynne put the visitors on the back foot as in form batsman Will Ray was removed early on, bowled by Bridgens for 5. Ian Harris followed soon after, edging behind off the bowling of Wynne.

Following the introduction of spin, Steve Cordingley fell lbw to the first ball from Qayyum. The pitch was offering plenty of assistance to the slower bowlers and the Hertford batsmen found scoring difficult. The pair of Elliot King (45) and James Leather (38) set about rebuilding the innings, knowing that a score of around 180 could be competitive. Leather eventually fell caught behind, leaving Cowell (27) andthen Slater (33) to come in and provide some much needed impetus in the last 10 overs. Hertford finished on 179-6 from their 50 overs feeling happy that they had worked hard on a difficult pitch and against a disciplined bowling attack.

The North Mymms opening pair came out looking to take the attack to the bowlers and put an early dent in the modest target they had been set. After a flurry of boundaries in the first few overs, Benji Cowell produce a fine piece of wicket keeping to remove Qayyum, stumped down the leg side off the bowling of Will Ray. Scott Ruskin kept the pressure on the home side with figures of 1-12 from his 10 overs, but the streaky batting of Ahmed continued to frustrate Hertford.

The decisive innings of the match was played by Steve Snell, who scored more freely than any other player as the wicket flattened out. He scored 56 from 48 deliveries to take North Mymms to the victory target with 9 overs to spare. Hertford's chances of avoiding a relegation play off look even slimmer as next week sees Potters Bar visit Balls Park.

by Richard Leather

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