Premier Division

West Herts slipped to a five-wicket defeat at second-placed North Mymms, but did enough to accrue five bonus points which proved sufficient to preserve their Premier Division status.

Stags captain Ian Gurney lost the toss and Mymms promptly inserted their opponents into bat, a decision that looked to be favouring the visitors who reached 104-2 thanks to a partnership of 88 between Craig Sanders (75) and Matthew Smith (32).

However the introduction of spin proved to be a decisive turning point, bringing about regular wickets and slowing the run rate as Kent County player Imram Qayyum led the way with 3-25.

Tommy Wheeler (18) and 16 from William Jones temporarily halted the slide but the Stags would be bowled out for a below-par 189, Hamza Qayyum chipping in with 3-41.

Mymms’ reply got off to an ominous start in reply, however, as Hamza (48) and captain Nesan Jeyaratnam (45) both laid the early foundations for victory.

Ryan Magee (2-25) was the pick of the West Herts attack but a further 41 from Steve Snell ensured they were rarely troubled from then on, reaching their victory target with five wickets to spare and consigning the Stags to defeat.

Sixth-placed West Herts will conclude their season with a home game against third-placed Welwyn Garden City on Saturday.

Radlett, too, ensured their relegation fears were unfounded as a narrow 13-run success at strugglers Harpenden guaranteed the Cobden Hill side will avoid the dreaded end of season relegation play-off.

Victory was set up by an impressive 105-run stand between number four Fraser Crawford (73) and opener Josh De Caires (65), who helped them recover from an inauspicious start that had left them hanging precariously on 13-2.

The only other batsman to reach double figures was Christopher Arul, who made 14, as two wickets apiece from Gus Laws-Mather (2-17), captain Ben Frazer (2-32) and Andrew Neal (2-34) restricted the visitors to 177-7 from 45 overs.

In reply, Frazer turned provider with the bat to post a quick-fire 76 from just 47 deliveries for Harpenden, but regular wickets ran parallel to supporting knocks from William Latham (21) and Ben Clements (18) and left Harps firmly up against it.

A distinct absence of middle-order support, the damage chiefly inflicted by opening bowler Randeep Sanghera (3-43), with useful cameos from De Caires (2-11), Rahil Thapar (2-15) and Muhammed Adil Zareef (2-27), left the hosts narrowly short of their target and all out for 164.

Seventh-placed Radlett will complete their season with the visit of mid-table Hertford to Cobden Hill.

Championship

Mid-table Hemel Hempstead Town were left frustrated after their match at Ampthill Town was decided by the Duckworth-Lewis method and resulted in a victory for their Bedfordshire hosts.

Batting first, Hemel found themselves in all sorts of trouble at 69-6 after 20 overs before a salvaging act from Jack Doodson, who crashed an unbeaten 100 not out, catapulted them to a respectable 200-9.

The visitors made early inroads in reply as Steve Reader (2-37) caused problems to reduce Ampthill to 47-3, but a sterling effort from captain Jim Kerr (54 not out) proved decisive in consigning Hemel to defeat.

Division Two A

Abbots Langley were on the end of a disappointing five-wicket defeat in their penultimate fixture of the season at lowly Holtwhites Trinibis.

Holtwhites won the toss and inserted Abbots into bat in what was something of a dead rubber as eighth hosted seventh.

On a slow pitch, the visitors found the early going rather troublesome as both Barry Warner and Simon Hamilton found themselves back in the pavilion cheaply to leave Abbots 38-2.

Nick Gurney and David Cleary then added a useful 61 for the third wicket until the former was controversially mankaded by Trinibis bowler Salman Masood who, after warning Gurney not to leave his popping crease prematurely, ran the batsman out for 27.

Matt Parkins (51) notched a half-century, Cleary eventually fell himself on 49 to Salman Khan (2-24) and Dhiran Solanki added an unbeaten 36 to take Abbots to 212-7.

In reply, the visitors’ seamers struggled to generate any breakthroughs so it wasn’t until the introduction of spinners Warner and Gurney (3-24) that Abbots slowed Holtwhites’ victory charge.

A well-constructed 66 from Gareth Garnsworthy, 35 from Khan and 30 from Phool Abbas had the hosts well on their way, with an unbeaten 35 from Haseeb Kashmiri confirming a comfortable win.

It was a case of déjà vu for Watford Town, despite registering a 35-run victory at sixth-placed St Albans, as results elsewhere mean they are unable to climb into the two promotion places for a second straight season.

Victory on the final day of the 2018 campaign against already-promoted Preston – the side Town tried in vain to catch – will confirm back-to-back third-place finishes.

Naseer Ahmed top-scored for the Woodside club with a flowing 55 but despite several starts, no other Watford batsman could kick on as they posted 185.

St Albans were reduced to 7-2 before a stand of 117 between captain Max Capaldi (57) and Simon White (52) rebuilt their innings.

Three quick wickets changed the complexion of the game again though, with the Saints subsequently losing their final five wickets for just 30 runs.

Division Three B

Hemel Hempstead Town Seconds’ six-game winning streak, which saw them rise to third in the league, is over after they succumbed to a 112-run defeat at home to Flitwick.

The visitors posted 206 with opener Michael Bodo top-scoring with 62 and Jimmy Hart making a useful 30.

Anjam Khan was the pick of the Hemel attack with 3-32, while Rory Fraser and Ed Langley chipped in well with 2-29 and 2-51 respectively.

In reply, Hemel were no match for the ruthless bowling of Liam Peters (5-27) and Michael Ellis (3-7) as they surrendered a promising start led by opener Craig Weston (29) and collapsed to just 96 all out.

Division Four B

Champions West Herts Seconds registered a routine six-wicket victory against Reed Seconds to make it 15 wins from a possible 17.

Reed batted first but were skittled out for just 127 as Josh Stevens (4-23), Vinny Gorasia (2-7) and Raoul Harding (2-28) combined to devastating effect, with only Chris Jackson (42) demonstrated any resistance.

In reply, the Stags reached their target of 128 inside 33 overs thanks to 33 from John Burkitt and an unbeaten 31 from Harding.

Division Five A

Watford Town Seconds remain on course for promotion following a thrilling nine-run victory against basement dwellers Preston Seconds.

The win mean second-placed Town lie three points clear of Holtwhites Trinibis Seconds and 28 ahead of St Albans Seconds in fourth, with all three clubs vying to claim the final promotion place heading into the final day.

The hosts’ innings was constructed around a century stand between Gunjan Hazarika and Muhammed Syed, who added an excellent 106 for the second wicket.

Both passed their half-centuries but were unable to kick on as Watford made do with a score of 216-9.

Preston might be facing the immediate prospect of relegation but they were on course for an upset in reply as they reached 137-3 with 14 overs to play.

However, despite some big hitting from the strugglers, regular wickets left them agonisingly short of victory and ensured Watford’s destiny will be in their own hands heading into the last day.

Division Nine B

Hemel Hempstead Town Fourths rounded off their campaign at home with a slender seven-run victory over lowly Waltham Cross Rosedale Seconds to remain in fourth.

Jim Langley (45) and Lewis Boughton (36) got the Hemel innings off to a strong start, before a flurry of wickets left them in a rut at 135-7.

Late runs from John Peppett (33 not out), Vinnie Liddar (26) and 15 from Dil Khan saw them post a respectable 227.

In reply there were two wickets each for Khan (2-21), Liddar (2-27) and Nic Benson (2-48), however an excellent partnership between Klayton Tyrell (89) and Mark Gentle (59) threatened a victory that Waltham Cross fell narrowly short of delivering.