1st XI Up & Running with Win Away to Harpenden

Rain delayed the toss and eventually reduced the game to a 44 overs per side game. When the toss did take place, it was Harpenden who won and elected to bat first, hoping to utilise their spinners in the second innings on a used pitch.

Harpenden won the first of the exchanges, getting away a few early boundaries off the bowling of Knight and Orchard. Left-hander Galloway was particularly attacking and raced to 18, before he was defeated by a slight change of pace from Orchard and could only lob the ball to cover and a waiting Will Ray. At the other end, the normally fluent Latham was finding it difficult to score thanks to a combination of some tight bowling, a slow wicket and some typically excellent fielding from Hertford. Latham and number 3 Meacock managed to tick the scoreboard over without building on the early momentum and the score had reached 48 when Andrew Knight was rewarded for his disciplined spell, trapping Meacock in front.

Captain Nick Lamb came to the crease but did not last long, removed by an excellent leg-side stumping from his counterpart Benji Cowell off the bowling of Adam Carlson. Latham was joined by Seagrave, who was able to score fluently from the off, and in particular went after the Hertford spinners. Latham perhaps trying to match his partner’s scoring rate tried to force Jonny Underdown through the leg side but could only succeed in chipping the ball to mid-wicket to fall for 27.

The wicket did not deter Seagrave’s attacking ambition as he continued to look for the boundary. He had survived a chance at mid-off, before a couple of moments of madness derailed the Harpenden innings. First, a mode of dismissal rarely seen, when Pankhurst was out for obstructing the field. Having pushed the ball to the right of Underdown, and set off, he was half-way down by the time he realised he had not managed to beat the bowler, and as he was certain to be run out by the returning throw, thrust his bat towards the ball deflecting from its path, leaving the umpires with little choice but to send him on his way. Following that, Seagrave, seemingly content only if he was on-strike and taking aim at the road-side boundary, lazily failed to return to his crease as the ball was again pushed back to Underdown and was run out for 36, and Harpenden were now 111-6.

Harpenden’s lower order showed little patience against the Hertford spin attack of Underdown and Homyoon, gifting Hertford three quick wickets, all caught in the ring and suddenly Harpenden were 115-9. It was down to the last wicket pair of Garrett and Doyle to scrap their way to a defendable total, which they made an admirable effort of and managed to see out the remaining overs ending on 148-9 from their 44 overs.

Having failed to chase a lower total a few weeks earlier Hertford knew this was not necessarily an easy chase, particularly on a used wicket. With left-arm quick Alex Gosling searching for early wickets, but lacking discipline Hertford made a fast start. Gosling’s spell lasted just 2 overs, but the score had progressed to 32 before he was replaced with left-arm spinner Ashley Sivarajah. This paid immediate dividends as Cavener looked to drive expansively and was bowled for 13. Homyoon quickly followed to a ball that kept disconcertingly low from off-spinner Doyle. Richard Leather joined Will Ray at 37-2 but Hertford quickly fell to 41-3 as Ray was trapped LBW by Sivarajah.

With Harpenden now applying some serious pressure, a small amount of panic may have been starting to spread amongst the Hertford team, however Australian Eustance did not show this as he quickly set about putting the pressure back on Harpenden. Advancing down the wicket twice at Doyle he was able to collect a couple of early boundaries to settle the nerves a little.

Harpenden continued to rotate their battery of spinners but Leather and Eustance batted with assurance and started to build a much-needed partnership. With the odd boundary and some useful strike rotation the pair advanced the score, taking the team past 100 and the runs required below 50. With the score at 120, Eustance’s resolve was broken as he edged the impressive Sivarajah to slip. Leather was joined by Cowell who immediately showed intent to finish the game as soon as possible. This proved his downfall as he missed a sweep off the bowling of Seagrave only to hear the unwelcome rattle of the stumps.

With plenty of overs in hand, Hertford did not need to panic and with just 12 runs to win, Pavey joined Leather and the two were able to knock off the remaining runs with little fuss. Leather finished on a vital 48* and Hertford will be hoping that this victory will provide some momentum and they can launch themselves further up the table in the coming weeks.

Author: Richard Leather