Hertford 4s narrow loss to Luton

Hertford won the toss and elected to bowl on a wicket which looked a little soft from the previous day’s rain.

There was early success with the wicket of Frank followed by Patel (24) and Dalvi caught by Nick Horton and Riddle respectively off the bowling of Robert Holman (2/19). Mahmood (49) and Trivedi (60) then took advantage of some mediocre bowling for a 4th wicket stand of 84. Luton were on their way to a considerable total but the leg spin of Angus Kildare and a tighter 2nd spell from Dan Orchard (10overs 2/40) finally removed the middle order and mopped up the tail. Angus’ (10 overs 4/44) was the stand out performance with 2 caught & bowled, 1 bowled and 1 stumping. Luton finishing on 203 all out in the 46th over.

The accurate bowling of Mushtaq Dalvi (10 overs 2/36) proved difficult for Hertford’s openers with Nick Horton caught for 12 and Angus Kildare bowled for 11. Eric Riddle (43) and Rich Eaton (32) put on 85 for the 3rd wicket to keep Hertford on course but when Riddle was bowled by Viren Patel (2/26) and Eaton was caught of Trivedi (10overs 2/34) shortly after, the advantage was now with Luton. The mid/lower order all made contributions but were unable to keep up with the run rate. Hertford finished on 182/7 off their 50 overs.

The day belonged to Luton but still a determined effort from Hertford and a much improved batting performance over last week’s collapse.