North Enfield Relegated
North Enfield Cricket Club’s 1st XI were consigned to relegation from Division 3A of the Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League following a rain-affected and bad-tempered loss at Allenburys & County Hall CC!
With the threat of rain later on in the day, it was no surprise that the Allenburys captain elected to bowl first when he won the toss. Needing to win both of their final two games to stay up, North Enfield got off to the worst possible start, as first William Munt (4) and then David Brandon (13) fell cheaply. However, an Irfan Ali counter-attack (23) got the scoreboard moving, as he found the fence freely on both sides of the wicket, before a questionable caught behind decision halted the visitors’ momentum. Tom Coughlan and Ishan Tilakaratna stabilised the situation for North Enfield, dragging the visitors towards the 100 mark, only for a disastrous run out to send Tilakaratna packing (30) and leave North Enfield in some strife at 100 - 4. Temur Ahmad joined Coughlan and calmly ticked along to 16, before he was removed by a stunning caught and bowled, which sparked a terrible collapse, as Gandy, Coughlan (39) and Pearson all followed in quick succession. Cameos of 21 and 8 from Adam Jessop and Thomas Munt respectively dragged the visitors up to a respectable score of 168 on a relatively slow surface.
The forecasted rain, thunder and lightning arrived during the innings break, shortening the game to 36 overs. Despite tensions running high following the Allenburys opener refusing to walk on 0, Jessop and Pearson bowled well in tandem to remove both openers, before a Gandy delivery was spliced to Jessop at mid off to leave the hosts struggling at 47 - 3. However, the rain returned to further reduce the target to 129 from 31 overs, but following the delay North Enfield were unable to create much pressure and boundaries were easier to come by on the slick outfield, meaning that the hosts cruised to a seven-wicket victory with 13 deliveries remaining. The defeat meant that North Enfield were relegated from Division 3A, although a victory next week at home to Chipperfield & Clarendon would mean that they are only relegated one sub-division (to 3B rather than 4A).
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