Hoddesdon CC 2nd XI suffered another heavy defeat on Saturday as Northampton Exiles ran out 156-run winners at Clowes Sports Ground. It was another painful afternoon in Division 4B for Adrian Lee’s side, who remain rooted to the foot of the table despite again collecting bowling points from a game in which the overall result was emphatic.

This report has been delayed while waiting for the Hoddesdon batting card to be uploaded to the club website, but with Wednesday evening now upon us, we will go ahead with the information currently available. That means we cannot fairly comment on individual Hoddesdon batting performances, but the match result, Northampton Exiles’ batting card, Hoddesdon’s bowling figures and the updated league table still tell a clear enough story.

Northampton Exiles batted first and were bowled out for 241, with the main scoreboard listing their innings as 46.2 overs. Hoddesdon replied with just 85 all out in 30.3 overs, leaving Exiles to claim a 30-point victory while Hoddesdon took 10 points, all of them from the bowling column. The defeat leaves the 2nd XI in an increasingly precarious position at the bottom of Division 4B. Hoddesdon now sit 10th with 146 points from 12 matches, level with Preston CC, Herts 2nd XI above them, but still bottom of the table after a campaign that has brought only one victory and one abandonment. At the top, Old Albanian lead the way on 291 points, with Boxmoor just behind on 290 and Luton Town & Indians third on 282. Lutonian sit fourth on 272, Flamstead fifth on 243 and North Enfield sixth on 236, while Stevenage and Northampton Exiles have both now pulled further away from the relegation places with 206 and 205 points respectively.

Division 4B

That gap is now the concern for Hoddesdon, because the teams directly above them are beginning to find the results needed to move clear. Preston remain catchable, but unless Animal’s side can start turning bonus points into wins, the battle becomes less about one result and more about needing a major late-season turnaround.

Northampton’s innings was built around a powerful contribution from Dhrupesh Patel, who made 73 from 61 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. He was the player Hoddesdon would have highlighted before the game as one of Exiles’ biggest threats, and he proved exactly why by setting the tone at the top of the order. Patel’s scoring rate gave Northampton early momentum, even though Hoddesdon did manage to keep taking wickets around him. Moiz Ahmed made 5, Mike Bullard 4 and Kamran Kahn added 23 from 36 balls before being run out, while captain Mohsin Azam struck 18 from 18 balls before falling to Asif Mohammed.

There were useful lower-order contributions too, and those runs made a major difference to the final total. Ahmed Zain made 29 from 38 balls, Hubert James added 21 from 29, Rizwan Siddiqui chipped in with 10, and Faiz Azam finished unbeaten on 25 from just 16 balls, including one four and two sixes.

From Hoddesdon’s point of view, there was at least credit to take from the fact they bowled Exiles out. In a season where wickets and bowling bonus points have often been easier to find than batting stability, the attack again produced enough breakthroughs to ensure the visitors left with maximum reward in that department. Austin Bean was once again a bright spot, continuing his impressive progress with 3 wickets for 43 from 7.2 overs. The young bowler has shown real promise in recent weeks, and his ability to keep putting himself in the contest at senior level remains one of the more encouraging stories in a difficult 2nd XI season.

Austin Bean Was A Lone Positive On A Miserable Day For The 2nd XI

Asif Mohammed also bowled with control and purpose, finishing with 2 for 36 from 10 overs at an economy rate of 3.60. Freddie Webb picked up 2 for 27 from four overs, while Daniel Hawkins claimed 1 for 37 from seven, giving Hoddesdon enough wicket-taking moments to earn all 10 available bowling points. Bilal Ahmad bowled seven overs, including the only maiden of the innings, and returned figures of none for 42. Oliver Maughan sent down a full 10 overs for 52, and while he went wicketless, the fact that Hoddesdon used six bowlers and still completed the job of dismissing Exiles shows there was at least commitment and effort in the field.

The frustration, as it has been too often this season, came in the extra column. Northampton were gifted 24 extras in total, including 18 wides and two no balls, and that is a sizeable contribution in any innings, especially when Hoddesdon are fighting to stay alive in the division. It was not as damaging as some of the larger extra counts seen in previous games, but it still remains a theme that refuses to go away. In tight matches those runs become decisive, and in heavy defeats they simply add to the feeling that Hoddesdon are making life harder for themselves than it needs to be.

Exiles Batting Card

Captain Adrian Lee did not try to dress up the result afterwards, but he was keen to acknowledge the bowling effort. “It is another very tough one to take, and there is no point pretending otherwise,” said Lee. “We got 10 bowling points because the lads kept going and took wickets, and Austin, Asif, Freddie and Dan all gave us something, but 241 was still too many from where we want to be. We also cannot ignore the fact that we dropped 6 catches throughout the afternoon and we are not going to win games if that continues.”

Lee also admitted that the table now looks extremely worrying for his side. “The situation is precarious, and everyone can see that,” he said. “We are still picking up points, but we are not picking up wins, and that is the bit that has to change very quickly if we are going to give ourselves a chance.”

The batting reply, sadly, never gave Hoddesdon a realistic platform from which to challenge. With the full batting card still unavailable at the time of writing, it would be unfair to single out individual dismissals or passages of play, but 85 all out in 30.3 overs tells its own story and underlines the scale of the issue. Hoddesdon have had afternoons this season where the batting has shown fight, most notably in the recent 221 against North Enfield and the 197 against Stevenage. This was not one of those days, and being bowled out for 85 when chasing 242 left no room for scoreboard pressure, late resistance or bonus-point rescue. The wider pattern is now impossible to ignore. Hoddesdon have suffered heavy defeats to Flamstead, Lutonian, Stevenage and now Northampton Exiles, with the narrow defeat at North Enfield standing out as the one recent performance where victory genuinely felt within reach. That is what makes the current position so frustrating, because there have been flashes of the side Animal wants this group to become. There has been fight with the ball, individual batting efforts, young players stepping up and experienced players trying to lead, but the complete team performance has not arrived often enough.

Lee’s message remains that the side cannot stop believing, even with relegation now looming. “We have to stick together, because there is no other way through it,” he said. “The table is ugly, but there are still games to play, and the only acceptable response now is to train, turn up, compete and find a way to win.”

Hoddesdon left Clowes Sports Ground with 10 points, but Northampton left with the victory, the full 30, and a decisive step away from the danger area. For the 2nd XI, the challenge now is brutally simple: they need points from somewhere, wins from somewhere, and they need them soon.

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