Radlett 205-5 Luton Town 93

ECB Home Counties

Premier League

Radlett continued their recent good form in the ECB Home Counties Premier League with an amphatic 112-run win against their old Hertfordshire League rivals, Luton Town.

Openers Matt Evans and Nick Fielden soon found out that the playing surface was never going to be an easy one to bat on, especially against a new ball that was producing what can only be described as 'tennis ball bounce'. The seamers came and went pretty quickly without too much alarm, though Luton Town skipper Richard Blair did well to recognise early on that his spinners would be the most potent weapons at his disposal. Off-spinner Kenny Davis immediately accounted for Matt Evans with some turn and bounce to be caught at short-leg for 11. Skipper Moffat (40) was next in to face the challenging task of repelling two spinners on a turning track, however both he and Fielden (81) chose their shots well and in the end began to establish some dominance over the Luton attack.

After both had survived until lunch to leave the score on 95-1, Radlett then looked up to the tempo in order to build a score from which they could dictate the rest of the game. However, Moffat played one sweep too many off the left arm spin of Khamcar and was bowled round his legs for 40.

Fielden carried on though and built the score up with good supportcoming from Kaf Jahangir (25) and Warren Jeffries (18 not out). Fielden was finally out with just three overs to go having scored 81 with Radlett pressing on to a final total of 205-5 off their 60 overs.

The Cobden Hill side took to the field in good spirits in the knowledge that their score was somewhat over the 'par' for this particular wicket. Almost immediately Stuart Browne and Oz Edwards had Luton openers Page and Patel in trouble and Page was dismissed for just one when a catch popped up to Fielden at short-leg off Browne. Chippeck then took a fine catch at first slip to remove Harris to leave Luton reeling at 10-2. After a quiet period of play Moffat introduced the quicker bowling of Darren Norman to spice things up a little. He immediately cleaned up Patel and then proceeded to bowl extremely well for not the first time since his return from injury.

Although Blair and Stern saw Luton through to tea, they never looked altogether comfortable on a surface that was still showing its threat with inconsistent bounce being the main problem for the batsmen. Blair was eventually caught out by Matt Cousens at mid-wicket, closely followed by Khancars and Davis. From then on it was a procession, with only Steam showing any heart for a fight, but when he was caught at slip off Stuart Browne the game was effectively won. Edwards returned with Browne to mop up the tail with the last six batsmen contributing only six runs between them. Edwards finished with 3-15, Browne 2-26 and Norman 3-37, as Radlett celebrated their second consecutive win by 112 runs.

Skipper Moffat said: 'A good batting performance on a difficult track was backed up by a very professional job in the field with some quality bowling. I'm very pleased with the attitude shown by the players in the past couple of weeks and long may it continue.'

The second, third and fourth teams all lost their matches.