Park go down to defeat against Berkhamsted

Berkhamsted 205-9

Knebworth Park 169

Berkhamsted won by 36 runs

KNEBWORTH PARK I went down to defeat against Berkhamsted by 36 runs at the weekend.

Bowling first after stand-in skipper Jarrod Turner lost the toss, a disciplined opening partnership from Sam McCrow and young pace ace Charlie Randall restricted Berkhamsted to scurried singles and extras, with McCrow recording the miserly figures of 2-6 off seven overs.

Berkhamsted's Western Province player Martin Walters (39) and all rounder Oliver Janaway (25) gained momentum before Janaway fell to a fine diving catch down the ground from Randall.

The Park's middle overs lacked the consistency of the opening spells enabling Berko's middle order to capitalise with Jez O'Neil contributing 34no. Skipper Turner relied on the off spin of Tom Hemingway (2-81) and himself, finishing with 4-23 to bring the Berkhamsted innings to a close on 205-9.

The Park innings got off to a solid start with Turner and new recruit Rob Large taking advantage of a bouncy wicket and some short bowling and both batsmen dismissing the ball to the boundary with some fine shots off the back foot.

Large was first to fall, lbw to Walters for 27 which brought Gregory and Turner together and they batted sensibly and continued to tick over the scoreboard.

When Turner gave a caught and bowled chance to Janaway the bowler reacted on instinct to dismiss the Park captain for 25. Janaway and off spinner Herring continued to apply pressure, making life very uncomfortable for incoming batsman Louis Champion.

Herring then trapped Gregory lbw for 19 and Ryan Skeggs was dismissed the very next ball meaning the run chase was in need of a consolidated stand from the Park middle order.

Champion and Phil Simpson showed signs that they were the pair to pull this off and Champion in particular after battling through the early part of his innings was looking in commanding form and displaying fine judgement on the execution of his shots.

The young pair however were to be undone by a little inexperience when Simpson was stumped off the bowling of Herring.

Champion soon followed when he edged behind a wide delivery from the same bowler, out for a well-made 52.

Berkhamsted maintained consistent pressure on the Park lower order, Herring picking up McCrow lbw for his fifth wicket and ably supported by Janaway who took the last three wickets as they finished 169 all out.

A DAZZLING all-round performance from Knebworth Park's rapidly improving Matt Hutchinson nearly dragged Knebworth Park II to victory from a desperate looking position, in their local derby in Division Two again Preston.

His 6-43 engineered a collapse from 163-3 as Preston finished on 203-9 in chasing the Park's 223 were the outstanding feature was Hutchinson's 57no off only 31 balls.

The Park's innings found run-scoring difficult at first in the face of steady bowling from the evergreen Mark Waters who took 2-45 off 18 overs, restricting the Park to only 86-3 off 35 overs. Josh Roseberry batted patiently for a valuable 48 before he was run out as they slipped to 118-5, and a decent total looking a remote possibility.

Then Hayden Bartlett-Tasker (37) and Tom Eaton (21) stepped up the run-rate before Hutchinson with support from Richard Jerome (26no) added an incredible 70 in seven overs.

Preston's reply started well as Hearne (20) and Ashley Catlin (75) saw off the opening attack. Hutchinson made the first breakthrough when he had Hearne lbw, but thereafter wickets were hard to come by. Skipper Shaun Robinson 1-56 bagged an important return catch and then Jerome plugged away to pick up one wicket.

Even so, Preston seemed to be cruising to victory before Hutchinson returned to the attack to change the course of events that in the end left Preston's last pair hanging on at 200-9 for a draw as the Park took 19 points to maintain their useful start to the season.

ANOTHER lukewarm performance condemned KPCC III to their third league defeat of the season at Met Police Bushey.

Batting first on a wicket that looked full of runs, Knebworth found the going tougher than expected. After Jeremy Goodacre's breezy 39 and a solid 37 from Ian Pickering it was left to veteran Graham Fisher (44) and skipper Sam Jones (29) to lift the total to a moderate all out.

Some poor new ball bowling saw Met Police Bushey away to a flier, reaching 70 without loss at nearly six an over. But they were pegged back to 77-4 when Jones and Fisher claimed four quick scalps between them. Met Police Bushey were able to regroup and, although two wickets from 16-year-old seamer Tom Elliott gave the visitors some late hope, it was not enough to stop the home side edging home by four wickets with an over to spare.

PETE Bayford was again in good form for the Knebworth Park IV with an innings of 55 in Division Eight at home to Langleybury thirds.

After Bret Painter (25) and Mark Woods (23) took the score past 50, Bayford then took charge. Under-13s Harry Jerome and Alex Axon (7) took the total on to 160 all out - but this total proved short of what was needed.

Joe Elliot (3-20) and Christian Gugolz (4-28) made the visitors struggle but they were able to edge home with eight wickets down.

The fifth team's failure to make an early breakthrough at home to Northampton Exiles proved costly as they set off to flier in their Division 11 match.

Yet from 113-1, Dave Murphy (5-43) and Graham Rose (4-20) saw the next nine wickets fall for the addition of only 61 further runs as they were bowled out for 174.

KNEBWORTH PARK V could only manage 120 all out in reply.

Sixth team skipper Steve Jenkins continued his good form with a determined innings of 45 but it was not enough to prevent defeat away to Langleybury IV in Saracens Herts League Division 14.

In a stand of 61 with new player Richard Boydell 32, they laid the foundation for what should have been a useful score, but wickets then fell regularly and they were all out for 129.

Boydell then pitched in with a useful debut with the ball, too, in taking 2-8. Young opening bowlers Matt Briars and Ben Murphy also impressed as did Under-16 wicket-keeper Sabian Chauhan.

The home side won comfortably by five wickets finishing with 134-5.