More fantastic weather welcomed us for our visit to West Herts last Friday, and it came as no surprise when West Herts elected to bat first in perfect conditions.

We had had zero game time in the previous two weeks, and this showed in our performance in the field. The bowling in general lacked sustained consistency and our fielding certainly could have been sharper. Our opponents were always on the front foot and had it not been for Harry’s (1-4) tight spell at the end we would have been chasing more than the 172 that we were set. The other wicket takers were Coby (1-15), thanks to a smartly taken catch by Dylan K at square leg, the returning Ethan (2-19) who impressed, and captain of the day, Henry (1-10).

A big chase then, but one which we made a decent fist of. To get anywhere close we needed a solid start and that is precisely what Sahas and Henry gave us. Circumspect at the start against some controlled bowling and then acceleration once both had played themselves in. It was a shame when Henry (23) perished just shy of retirement, although Sahas did complete the job retiring on 27. Ethan and Issa took over, and Ethan in particular looked in good touch, he had to depart having reached 26*. Issa made 12 and Rohan was left at the end with 13* to his name, and apart from a few minutes of madness at the death when we gifted them four wickets, including an unnecessary hattrick, we ended on 136-6. Even though we fell short, it was encouraging to see our application in hunting down a large target.

M.O.M. Henry and Sahas put in good performances, however it was Ethan than shone brightest today, so he claims the plaudits