Hertford 1s Beat Mymms by Convincing 5 Wicket Margin

Looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat against West Herts the previous week, captain Benji Cowell continued his fine run at the toss and asked the home side to bat first.

Thankfully the sun was out and there were blue skies over the Home Farm ground. Despite some significant rainfall on the previous day, the wicket was even paced and offered something to batsmen and bowlers alike.

The Hertford opening pair of Andrew Knight and Adam Carlson started tidily, offering few scoring opportunities to the North Mymms batsmen. Knight got the visitors on the board, finding the outside edge of the dangerous Hamza Ahmed with captain Cowell holding on behind the wicket.

Opening batsman Millard was providing stubborn resistance at the other end, but at the same time was not showing much intent to keep the scoreboard moving. When Carlson cleaned bowled Nesan Jayaratnam for 5 the score had only progressed to 19 for the loss of two wickets.

The innings continued in the same vein, without any sense of urgency, allowing Knight and Carlson to finish their disciplined spells with the score at 38 for 2 after 20 overs.

If the home side had decided that the change in bowling was the time to kickstart their innings, they quickly had to reassess as Jamie Regan picked up 2 wickets in his first over. The first resulted from a very smart diving leg side catch from the Hertford skipper.

With his side struggling at 42-4, the experienced Andy Lewis showed some intent and looked to get the scoreboard moving. Lewis put on 63 for the 5th wicket with Millard before being run out by Regan.

Realising that they had perhaps left it too late, the Mymms lower order looked to play some shots against Hertford's spinners. However, they found it difficult to make solid contact on a wicket that was offering some turn. Jonny Underdown, playing his first premier league game of the season, bowled tightly and was rewarded with 4 wickets to mop up the tail.

As has been the case all season, the Hertford bowlers were strongly backed up by the fielders who collected 2 run outs and a number of smart catches. The visitors were rewarded for their disciplined performance by bowling out the opposition for 119 in the 47th over.

Hertford knew the job was only half done and that the home side would want to put the pressure on to make the chase uncomfortable.

Jamie Riddle started the innings positively, racing to 21 before miscueing the ball and offering up an easy catch to the home side.

Hugh Cavener joined Will Ray at the crease and the pair looked solid against the pace of Dale and the spin of Ruwansiri. Dale was becoming increasingly frustrated as the pair kept out the good balls and punished anything loose, also taking advantage of several free hits.

As the pitch started to produce prodigious turn for the home side's spinners, Cavener failed to clear mid on whilst trying to take the positive option.

Hertford then threatened to let Mymms back in the game with Ray first calling Regan through for a single which wasn't there, before then running himself out for 44.

With just 30 more required for the win, Richard Leather and Cowell played patiently and chipped away at the target. Leather was then on the receiving end of a dubious umpiring call, LBW to a ball which took a large chunk of the inside half of the bat before striking the pad.

However, that was to be the last nervy moment for the visitors, with skipper Cowell seeing his side home with the first six of the game.

Hertford produced a performance worthy of twenty five points whilst the home side will be left questioning their approach with the bat. With the league now moving to timed matches Hertford will be looking to carry the momentum from this victory into next week's home match against Radlett.

Author: James Leather