Callum Sykes smashed an unbeaten 139 to steer Bishop’s Stortford III to a seven-wicket home success over Bengeo in the Tees Herts & Essex Border League, Premier Division on Saturday (June 29).
He was supported by Adrian Wacey (61no) as they produced an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 177 to ensure the hosts recovered from a shaky start to reach 225-3.
Ollie Diamond took 3-43 for the away side, who had earlier posted 221-7. Will Lambert, with 4-38, was the pick of the Stortford bowlers.
It was a disappointing day for thefirst team as they suffered a five-wicket defeat at North Mymms in the Saracens Hertfordshire League, Premier Division.
The visitors lost an early wicket before Joe Burslem and Joe Hawkins got them to 47-1 at the first drinks break.
Burslem was caught off the bowling of Will Jones - becoming the first of his four victims - and a collapse ensued.
Jonathan Gaffney (16), Dom Clutterbuck (28no) and Richie Heywood (18) put on lower-order runs to take their side to 140 in the 49th over, giving the hosts 66 overs to reach their target.
Stortford started well and wrestled back control as Simon Lindop took a wicket in the third over, followed by Heywood claiming two scalps, including prolific overseas Viv Paver.
When Clutterbuck and Ben Twohig took wickets the score was 61-5 and the game looked in the balance.
But Jones (41no) joined Armaan Randdhawa (51no) at the crease and they batted sensibly to steer the hosts to 141-5 in the 39th over.
There was a tense finish as the second team went down by two wickets at home to Old Fincleians in Division 2B.
Everyone chipped in with runs for the hosts as they amassed 172-9 from their 50 overs.
Haitel Patel, Murray Davidson and Austin Osborne all struck 24 while James Frans (18no) and Will Nutt (15) put on 32 for the ninth wicket.
Tim Smith (3-14) made inroads with the ball in the reply, but an 81-run fifth-wicket partnership turned the tide in Old Fincleians’ favour and they required 26 runs from the last 10 overs.
Osborne (2-29) and Nutt (2-52) bowled well in the final stages, but the total was reached by their opponents with eight balls to spare.
The fourth team lost by seven wickets at leaders Takeley in HEBL Division One.
Stortford, who won the toss, struggled with the bat and lost wickets regularly to post a below-par 199-8. Ant Foster and Fraaz Ahmed both scored 34.
Takeley eased to 202-3 as Chris Thake made 65 and Vamsi Madhav remained unbeaten on 75.
• Cricketfield Lane will play host to three matches in this summer’s inaugural Over-70s World Cup, which takes place between July 28 and August 11.
The games in Stortford all feature Wales as they take on Canada (Thursday August 1), New Zealand (Tuesday August 6) and England (Thursday August 8). Entry is free.