There are plenty of numbers involved in cricket - and age is just another one of them as far as Ickleford are concerned.

Last week's game for the club's Sunday team against Datchworth saw 56 years separate the youngest and oldest bowlers.

At one end, was club stalwart and evergreen Roy Izzard, playing in his 49th season for Ickleford, at the tender age of 68.

At the other, in his first season in adult cricket, was Noah Giggle, the grandson of former Hitchin Town football hero Paul, who was aged just 12.

And it proved a fabulous day for the youngster who took his first wickets in men's cricket, finishing on 2-42 from his eight overs.

Izzard, who is one of the club's leading wicket takers with more than 2,200, said: "I’m delighted to still be able to play but the most important thing is seeing another generation of talented young players like Noah coming through.

"We’ve been blessed with some terrific young players thanks to our great junior set-up so that’s such good news.

Giggle added: "I really enjoyed it and it was great to get some wickets too."

Ickleford triumphed in the game by 19 runs, Richard Peareth top scoring with 75 while Joshua Schumann managed 3-10.  

This week the Sunday team won by six wickets against Luton Caribbean at Crawley Green.

The hosts batted first and the Ickleford bowling was good enough to ensure that Luton were dismissed for 129.

Daniel Harvey took 2-20, Dinesh Cheripalli 2-18 and Moosa Akhtar 2-24 while Izzard was among the trio on one.

Charlie Jupp and Joe Dalrymple gave the innings a good start but the hero was Harvey who made a maiden half-century with 54 not out.

Dan Barnes provided good support with an unbeaten 12 as the pair scored a unbroken 47 to take Ickleford home.

The firsts lost in Division Two A to Berkhamsted, leaving them 48 points from safety.

They lost a few early wickets before Jak Phillips (36) and Duncan Jenner (24) steadied the batting with a 50-run partnership for the third wicket.

Kmajed Khan with 36 added some momentum to the innings but none of the other batsmen could go on to a big score, leaving them all out for 173.

They managed two early wickets of their own but despite excellent figures of 1-11 from Luke Marsden in his 10 overs, there was a lack of control from the other bowlers and Berkhamsted reached the victory target in the 30th over without further loss.

The seconds lost by four wickets to Baldock Town in Division Five B, Adam Ross getting 37 while Leo Mason was the pick of the bowlers with 3-21, and the fourths were outplayed by Datchworth, losing by 174 runs.

But the thirds continued their excellent league season with their 10th win against Preston 4s at Whitwell.

Preston's bowlers made early inroads and Ickleford were reduced to 68-4 before a partnership of exactly 100 between Harry Chan (73*) and Mark Howard (21) took the home side to a challenging 187-5 in their 40 overs.

In reply, Jayden Lidder managed 2-20 to have Preston struggling at 44-4 and although the visitors pushed on to 85-4 in the 28th over, the arrival of rain meant Ickleford won thanks to a vastly superior run rate.

Knebworth Park remain firmly in the hunt for promotion from Division Two B of the Herts Cricket League after their eighth win of the season.

They won by 75 runs away to Kings Langley to remain third, 18 points behind West Herts.

With Matt Hutchinson injured, Park were under the leadership of their youngest ever captain, 17-year-old Kobe Richmond. 

Knebworth had a shaky start, losing an in-form Louis Champion after just three balls, and Haydon Bartlett-Tasker (21) and Charlie Randall (22) seemed to steady the ship before the rain came down causing a delay.

That reduced the match to 48 overs each and when those were over, Knebworth had set a total of 220-8.

A vital partnership saw the new skipper (40) and Rob Morley (28) add 55 runs, as did Alex Richmond (25*) and Dave Roberts (28*) late on.

Knebworth then had a perfect start with the ball as Randall (3-17) got a wicket in the first over.

Kobie Richmond picked up an important wicket with an outstanding one-handed pick up and direct hit run out to leave Langley on 22-4. 

The skipper put himself into the attack and got a wicket with his third ball but it needed the spinners of Alex Richmond and Roberts to stem the flow of runs.

It left the batting side well behind the Duckworth Lewis and after a further delay, and re-evaluated target, the home side were all out for 145.

Preston's hopes of avoiding the drop from the Championship remain on the positive side despite a loss to Flitwick.

With three games to go, they are 33 points clear of second bottom Redbourn and 52 ahead of basement club Reed, who Preston play in their penultimate fixture.

The loss to Flitwick was also rain affected.

Daniel Scholz had led the way with 118 from 122 deliveries, hitting 10 fours and three sixes, while Jake George had chipped in with 63, the pair putting on 118 for the fourth wicket.

That got Preston to 268-9 in their reduced 48 overs.

The visitors though only managed to get 25 played when the rain arrived for the final time, and they were awarded the win due to their run rate.

Hitchin and Letchworth remain on the heels of the promotion pack in Division One after both managed to win.

Letchworth won by 14 runs away to Sawbridgeworth, one of the three sides above them.

They made 191 batting first, the second-wicket partnership of David Sprittles (51) and Praveen Bhatti (53) the main source, amassing 116.

And in reply it was three wickets each for Sam Kendle, Joe Davidson and David Albon that kept the home side at bay, bowling them out on the first ball of the final over.

Hitchin meanwhile won by three wickets against second-placed Luton Town & Indians.

Luton had made 191-9, batting through all of their 50 overs, but Hitchin managed to get just 28 at the crease as the rain fell.

However, the adjusted target meant that the six runs they got in the last of them was exactly what was needed to win the game.

Kian Postlethwaite took 4-39 while Will Guest was unbeaten on 32 in the reply, Luke Day hitting 33 too.

Back in Division Two A, Stevenage won by 65 runs against Northwood to stay fourth but move seven points away from a promotion spot.

David Carr top scored with 60 but it was the bowlers who shone, removing the visitors for just 73.

Nikhil Kumpukkal was the absolute star of them with 6-12 in his 10 overs.