Langleybury on top at Lowfield

Saturday 6th June saw Hoddesdon 1st XI welcome Langleybury to Lowfield for their second home game of the season. Hoddesdon went into this game winning their last four 50/50 matches and looked to make it 5 wins in 5.

Langleybury won the toss and chose to bat first which suited Hoddesdon’s game plan.

Hoddesdon’s opening bowlers struggled early on with the new ball as the Langleybury opening pair hitting numerous boundaries. Hoddesdon’s bowlers struggled to keep to their game plan bowling two side of the wicket as Manzoor rode his luck targeting the short boundary.

With the scoreboard creeping up quickly, Rob Walters tossed the ball to spinner George Duke looking for that all important first wicket. Duke soon got the breakthrough required getting William Oxley LBW sweeping for 23.

Duke was backed up at the opposite end by veteran Martin Brown who quickly had Manzoor caught by James Mead for 60. Hoddesdon's bowlers then had a bit of luck as Langleybury’s batsman gave away there wickets and were 179 for 6.

The stubborn Richard Soulsby held Langleysbury’s middle order together before some dreadful running saw him run out for 74. Looking for the last four wickets, Hoddesdon brought on seamer Bill Thorne who bowled good areas with the old ball and managed to pick up the last 3 remaining wickets. Langleybury were all out 278. Thorne was the pick of the bowlers ending with figure’s of 3-16 from 2.1 overs.

Needing 279 to win, Hoddesdon’s openers Rob Jones and Rob Walters started positively blazing the ball over the short boundary. Knowing how important the early wicket of in form Rob Walter was, Langleybury looked to restrict his run scoring by opting for a seam/spin bowling attack. Walters looked comfortable against both bowlers but luck was firmly on Langleybury’s side as he chopped on and was out for 9.

Allrounder Sam Davis then continued his good form scoring against the bad ball before he was caught for 43. The quick fire wickets of Todd Sturdy and Josh Bailey both falling in single figures saw Hoddesdon middle order collapse to 97/5.

Some steady batting from Anthony Higgs backed up by Martin Brown saw Hoddesdon try and claw themselves back into the game but this was short lived as Brown fell for 21. Higgs was then joined at the crease by Keeper Rhys Jones and with around 10 overs remaining, Hoddesdon needed 15 runs an over to win. Knowing that 15 runs an over at Lowfield was an achievable task, Jones eyed up the short boundary and managed to sweep positively the Langleybury spinners. Soon Higgs fell for 38 and Hoddesdon’s run chase looked an impossible task.

Jones was joined by Bill Thorne who hit consecutive 4’s. Jones soon fell for 12 trying to hit over the top and the game looked to be firmly in Langleyburys grasp. Thorn and Duke tried to rescue some of Hoddesdon pride but the game was firmly lost. Duke fell for 1 and James Mead was run out without facing a ball.

Words by Rhys Jones