Waresley send leaders to first league defeat

Batting first, Lutonians set about the Waresley bowling, initially scoring at over six runs an over.

But once Naeem Khan and Hamid Riaz had been dismissed, the run rate fell away.

Joe Colebrook (5-51), who took most of the initial punishment, was the pick of the bowlers, and Dominic Walker (1-17 off his nine overs) bowled tidily at the end.

Waresley were set 192 to win, and with Simon Donald (40), James Dallaway (53), and Ian Donald (41*) all scoring freely, the target was achieved in less than 40 overs.

Blunham made a good start against Flitwick in their Premier Division clash but found the hosts too strong in the end.

Kanchana Rodrigo and Connor Heaps put on 55 for the first wicket, Rodrigo scoring 40 off 42 balls. Then good partnerships between Heaps (44) and firstly Tyler Smith (39) then Deryn Fowler (55 off 42 balls) saw them well placed at 184-3. But then wickets tumbled and they were restricted to 221-9.

In reply steady scoring saw Flitwick home inside 40 overs with five wickets in hand. Christopher Boulding returned the best figures with 2-37.

Southill Park tumbled to a five wicket loss at Dunstable Town, George Darlow top scoring for Park with 47.

Exceptional bowling from Daniel Denton and three half centuries saw Ickwell win by 66 runs at Luton Town & Indians seconds in Division One.

Choosing to bat first, Ben Welch (53) and Harry Young (57) put together an opening stand of 94 in 20 overs.

It was good to see Ross Cunningham (53) in action again as he shared a fifth wicket stand of 66 with Cameron Smith (37). Ickwell made 228.

When Luton Town & Indians came to bat they not only lost four early wickets quite cheaply but their scoring was held back as Denton conceded only seven runs from his nine overs.

Opener Jeremy Page (59) was the only batsman to make a substantial score and he was seventh out with the score on 139. There was not much further resistance as the home side hung on to the end to finish with 162-9.

Jordan Cleghorn smashed a century to set Langford on their way to a win at Potton.

Cleghorn scored 117 and shared a big opening stand with Conor Robson as Langford amassed 282-7 at The Hollow. Stephen Williams and Sean Stevens took two wickets each for the hosts.

Eight Potton batsmen made it into double figures but nobody could go on to make a big innings and they were all out for 191, Luke Peters taking 3-38. Davy Shippey was economical with 2-21 off nine overs.

Ravi Kodikara was stopped one short of a century as Caldecote were edged out by Cople in Division Two.

He smashed 16 boundaries in 107 balls but was bowled on 99 by Oscar Relf. Unfortunately nobody could build a big innings alongside him and Caldecote were held to 215-8 in their 40 overs.

Cople opener Stuart Harding succeeded when Kodikara had just fallen short. He made an unbeaten 104 as Cople passed the total in the final over.

Ickwell seconds were unable to catch Kempston Sports’ total in Division Four.

On a sunny day with a spectacular airshow overhead Ickwell put the visitors into bat and were rewarded by some early wickets as Tinu Thankappan dismissed both openers and after six overs the score was 47-3. There was then a fourth wicket stand of 92. Tom Jackson (4-47) picked up three wickets in his last over.

Ickwell were set quite a challenging target of 259 to win. After losing early wickets Andrew Simpkins (92) and James Anthony (26) put on a fourth wicket stand of 49 but could not get the run rate up. Tom Jackson (48 not out) came in and shared a stand of 96 with Simpkins. They did succeed in getting the run rate up to over eight an over but with virtually all the fielders on the boundary they could not make enough boundaries to challenge the total required.