Weekend Round-Up June 29/30

Preston First X1 were back to winning ways this weekend with a commanding 6 wicket win against Hoddesdon in the Championship. Hoddesdon won the all important toss and elected to take first knock on a decent Preston wicket. After a quickfire start the visitors were 67 off the first 10 overs. But the Hoddy top order failed to capitalise having all made decent initial runs and wickets soon fell regularly. It was the slower, spin pairing of Luke Marsden and Pete Murrell who applied the brakes and between them took 8 for 66 with Luke Marden taking home figures of 20/5/31/3 in a brilliant, extended display of slow and controlled bowling. At the other end, Pete Murrell took 5/35 off a brilliant 10 over spell. Hoddesdon were 190 all out in 50 overs. Preston in reply got over the line in 38 overs to reach 194/6 in a dominant and sensible all round performance. Ed Wharton scored 76 at the start of the innings supported by his opening partner James Stevens with 32. Skipper Jake George 22 and Jack Stevens brought the win home with a patient 40 not out.

Preston Second X1 had a very quick game against Bayford & Hertford CC in Div 4B and saw Preston take home a destructive 10 wicket win. B&H CC won the toss and elected to bat but were soon in big trouble as Preston’s evergreen bowler Mark Waters was soon into the wickets and ran through B&H CC’s top and middle order in quick time and took home figures of 10/4/15/5 in a spell reminiscent of the Waters of old. First change Omar Faleel took home figures of 4/1/4/3. Only Bayfords Skipper Kettridge posted any score really but succumbed to the pace of Omar Faleel for 17. Bayford limped to 50 all out in the 23rd over. In reply, Preston’s opening pair of Pete Gooden and Warren Hearne didn’t hang about and blasted their way to 51/0 in the 9th over. Done and dusted by 2.40pm. On a serious note, we do wish Bayford and Hertford CC the best. The club by their own admission is struggling for availability but the ground and facilities are impeccable and we do wish them well in their recruitment drive.

Preston Third X1 also got back to winning ways with a 39 run win against Radlett 4’s. Preston took first knock and reached a commanding 217/8 off 40 overs. Young Pushan Chakraborty made a decent 48 at the top of the Preston order. And it was the middle order of Mr Reliable Amit Rajani (31) and a superb 59 for Tom Murrell that bolstered the Preston innings. In reply, Radlett could only muster 178/9 off their 40 overs with Iain Purton being the main Preston trouble maker, taking 4/33 off a destructive 8 over spell.

Regretfully, Preston 4’s fell away against a strong Hitchin CC side who won by a comfortable 7 wickets. Winning the toss, Preston fell for a below par 158/9 off 40 overs with only young Oscar Dunham Welch making any decent runs (49) and Arundeep Natt scrambled a much needed 21 towards the end of the innings. In reply, Hitchin’s Skipper Chris White made a decent 50, supported by Gwinnett (33) and Mason not out for 36. This gave the Hitchin innings the momentum and they reached 59/3 off 25 overs and secured 30 points for the Lucas Laners.

On Sunday, Preston beat Lutonians by 3 wickets in the Sunday Beds League. Lutonians won the toss and batted first but were all out for 164 in the 35th over. In reply, Preston got home comfortably reaching 165/7 in the 29th over. Preston’s Omar Faleel made a decent 63 with Will Mercer making 26, Jack Bermingham making 17 and Amit Rajani making 25.

The juniors are having a sensational season so far with wins this week against Stevenage in the U10 and U13’s age group and a win against Hitchin in the U9 age group. All our junior teams have had some amazing results and played some excellent cricket and all thanks to all the local clubs in the junior leagues as all the games are played in great spirit. It’s so good to see.

The Preston Womens X1 had their second match against a well drilled Hitchin Womens X1. Another chance for some match practice for our emerging Womens X1 who – considering they have been playing for 5 weeks now – are showing some excellent talent and enthusiasm. We are always looking for more Womens friendly fixtures as we are very keen to see our Womens Cricket develop further.