Leather Dismantles Mymms In Comprehensive 1st XI Victory

Hertford travelled to North Mymms for the penultimate league fixture of the year, looking to make amends after a couple of narrow defeats in recent weeks and to create some momentum to take into the 2021 season.

Skipper Benji Cowell lost the toss and the home side opted to bat first at the picturesque Home Farm ground. The wicket looked a good one albeit on the soft side following the recent wet weather.

The new ball was taken by Andrew Knight and Adam Carson and the pair soon settled into a rhythm with a disciplined opening spell. However their patience was not met with much reward as the opening batters Tom Millard and Hamza Ahmed showed equal amounts of discipline and stifled the Hertford bowlers.

The Hertford side knew that the run rate was well within their control and that 1 wicket could expose the weakened North Mymms middle order. The score had reached 51 when young off spinner Tom orchard struck, removing Millard with a sharply turning delivery which was caught down the leg side by keeper Cowell.

As the visitors had hoped the first wicket proved to be the decisive moment as they were quickly rewarded with more breakthroughs. Orchard, in combination with James Leather, turned the screw on the home batting lineup, taking wickets in quick succession. None of the remaining North Mymms batsmen were able to provide much resistance and the nature of many of the dismissals will have have frustrated the home side's captain, with several of the players being caught in the infield.

After the solid opening partnership, the collapse had been quite dramatic. The home side sunk from 51-0, to 86 all out with Leather returning the remarkable figures of 6 wickets for just two runs and Orchard taking the remaining four.

Having let a couple of strong positions slip in recent matches, the Hertford captain emphasised the importance of following up the strong bowling performance with a confident and convincing chase.

The early loss of Martin Chandler and Fayaz Homyoon had the visitors feeling a bit twitchy at 10-2 and with the pitch proving to be much slower than expected, Hertford were looking for someone to take control. Benji Cowell did just that and got his side over the line in style, hitting four maximums on his way to 54 not out from 52 balls.

This was exactly the type of dominant performance that the Hertford captain will be demanding of his side going forward and they go into the final game of the season away at Harpenden looking for back-to-back wins to finish the season on a high note.

Written by James Leather.