Tight at Town

Northchurch won the toss and elected to bowl. The pitch offered a little assistance to the bowler when the ball was put in the right place, but scoring opportunities for the batter if line or length strayed. The early exchanges were tense.

James opened the NCC account by inducing an edge to Bexon at gully from leading run scorer Ned, before trapping Horton LBW for the second time in the season. T Vila claimed a scalp of his own to leave Dunstable in trouble at 30 for 3. A fifty partnership between Pratt and Thorne gave Dunstable some cause for optimism, but OJ, Romit and Hobley bowled tight lines through the middle of the game to keep the runs down.

Patel's three wickets ensured that the home team could not wrest back the momentum and the return of the openers wrapped up the innings with a few overs left unfaced and leaving Northchurch an attractive 146 to win.

The innings got off to a bright start, though a flurry of wickets gave cause for concern. However, the lower order batted sensibly to see out any remaining movement before accelerating over the finish line with seven overs to spare.

Around the rest of the division the top half beat the bottom half, meaning the title race continues with a home game against Bayford and Hertford next week.