Sawbridgeworth beaten by Redbourn in Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League

Sawbridgeworth slipped to sixth place in Saracens Hertfordshire League, Division One after suffering a third successive league defeat at Redbourn on Saturday (July 27), writes Richard White.

Although returning home with a healthy haul of 17 bonus points, it was the first time since 2019 that Sawbo have lost three matches in a row as their poor form on the road continued with only one of their five wins this season coming away from Town Fields.

For the second week running, they failed to bat out their 50-over allocation as they were all out for 233 in 47.3 overs.

Max Osborne (29) and Joe Joyce (23) raced to 52 without loss midway through the eighth over before Josh Arnold took four wickets in as many overs to leave the visitors struggling on 77-4.

Alan Ison struck 50 off 37 balls in a fifth-wicket partnership of 64 with Rob Sanders (37) before departing on the cusp of the drinks break with the score on 141.

Charlie Rudkin batted patiently for his 41 and support from the tail meant the last three wickets put on 57 runs, but Sawbo were dismissed with 15 balls of their allotted overs unused.

In reply, Redbourn shrugged off the loss of two early wickets as Conor Yorath (66) and Harry Cobb (48) put on 101 for the third wicket before the latter was spectacularly run out by a direct hit from Sayed Aziz, who picked up the ball from backward point and threw down the stumps at the bowler’s end.

Redbourn ultimately reached 234-8 in the 48th over.

It was also a frustrating day for the second team as they lost to Old Albanian by three wickets in 5B.

After being put in, they were dismissed for 161 in 49.1 overs with Charlie Mann (54) leading the way with the bat.

Brad Oakes (30), Alfie Burrell (25) and Andrew Dongworth (18) also reached double figures in an innings that saw five Sawbo players dismissed without scoring.

In reply, the visitors reached 161-7 in the 37th over with the main contributions coming from James Barwick (58), Riley Pullan (34) and Samuel Baker-Madec (35).

Dongworth (3-26) continued his excellent form with the ball with the other wickets falling to Alfie Burrell (1-37), Charlie Newman (1-19) and 15-year-old Travis Morgan, who took 2-15 on his second-team debut.

Harry Gale’s side took 11 bonus points to remain seventh in the table.

The third team slipped into the Tees Herts & Essex Border League, Division One relegation zone after suffering a 156-run hammering against Thaxted at Leventhorpe School.

Uzair Saad (66) and Colin Field (57) struck half-centuries for the visitors, who piled up an imposing 292-7 from their 40 overs. Wickets fell to Harry Frans (2-33), Nick Dale (2-71), Catherine Clune (2-72) and Zoe Bovaird (1-36).

Rhys Ashman struck 15 boundaries on his way to top-scoring with 74 from 71 balls, but Dale (14) was the only other player to reach double figures as Sawbo, who fielded two female players in a league match for the first time, were all out for 136.

Zubair Ahmed (4-21) and Usman Baqar (3-39) were the main destroyers for Thaxted, leaving Sawbo nine points adrift of safety with five games to play.