North Enfield Cricket Club’s league sides suffered a frustrating Saturday in the Hertfordshire Premier Cricket League, through a combination of a disappointing result and the elements.
The club’s 1st XI lost out to Luton Town & Indians by nine wickets at Strayfield Road, whilst the 2nd XI’s chase of 130 at Bentley Heath was prematurely curtailed by rain.
Promotion chasing Luton Town made the most of bowler friendly conditions after winning the toss to wrap up a quickfire victory in Division 4B.
They completed their chase of 82 in just nine overs, after skittling their hosts for 81 in extremely difficult conditions for batting.
With the imminent threat of rain and despite an early wicket from Steve Gandy, Luton Town romped home with 41 overs remaining to claim the 30 points.
North Enfield had earlier failed to recover from slipping to 35 - 7, as only Gandy (26) and Tom Coughlan (19*) reached double figures.
After such a difficult start, the aforementioned pair saw North Enfield to 62 - 7, before they lost their last three wickets for 18 runs and limped to 80.
Despite the defeat, North Enfield are still in with a chance of a top five finish, if they win at Northampton Exiles next Saturday and results go their way.
Elsewhere, rain at Bentley Heath prevented what promised to be a dramatic finish, with North Enfield’s 2nd XI 75 - 6 in their chase of 130.
With captain Garry Orton (33*) still at the crease alongside Ben Greenfield (1*) and 13 overs remaining, the game appeared to be going right down to the wire, only for the elements to intervene.
A brilliant performance with the ball and in the field had earlier allowed them to limit their hosts to 129 in 36.2 overs.
Otis Halley (3 - 35) and Joe Murphy (3 - 36) claimed three wickets apiece as North Enfield dismissed their visitors for a potentially chaseable total, only for the rain to prevent them from having a complete shot at a second consecutive victory.
The 2nd XI conclude their Division 9 East campaign with a home fixture against Botany Bay next weekend.
Meanwhile, 150* from Kieran Jones and four wickets from Freddie Pearson saw the club’s Friendly XI defeat Red Square Lions by 117 runs on Sunday.
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