It was difficult to get any positive words out of the skipper despite his amazing batting display.

St Albans had made an excellent score of 264 for 6 on a placid pitch, although all of the bowlers stuck to their task, with youngsters James and Matt Stead, and Tony Sayers each giving up around 4 an over from their full allocation.

In reply the skipper went wild scoring a magnificent 138. Together with Tony Sayers (47) it appeared that only one result was possible with the score on 240 for 4 and 9 overs remaining. Fish then fell and then Tony tried one big shot too many to hole out on the boundary. Then, despite James Stead holding up one end, the rest of the side fell for a combined solitary run, to finish 7 runs short.

The first odd moment in this game came when Fosters opened up with Fish and Hooper! The runs were kept down and from there Southgate never really looked like making a sizeable total. Matt Stead to 3 for 43, brother James 2 for 36 and Mark Sayers 2 for 41 as Southgate closed on 201 for 9.

In reply Fosters got off to a flyer courtesy of Flat Track and Ian Cooper. Ian settled in to his second opening century stand of the weekend before he was out for 31. Flat Track was imperious at the other end and the only surprise came when he seemed to almost give his wicket away on 97.

The usual move to keep Fish and Steady down the order nearly backfired, as despite an assured knock from Matt Shore (26), 3 further wickets fell and when the Stead twins found themselves together the asking rate was closer to 6 an over. James though managed to keep hitting the odd boundary and Matt played his part - the only surprise came with 4 needed to win from 7 balls, Matt was bowled playing around a full toss.

James took a single to take his score to 26 and Fish waited for the good length ball, which he smashed away to the boundary for the winning 4 with 2 balls remaining.

After a disappointing defeat the previous week at Harpenden this was a much improved performance which sees the side rise to a much more comfortable position in the league table. Batting first Fosters made a reasonable start but soon found themselves 5 down with only James Stead (27) and Ian Cooper (22) making over 20.

This brought Doris and Tony Sayers together and carnage ensued as they went after the bowling. Doris fell for 41 but Tony just kept on going (helped by a number of dropped catches) to compile his first ever senior ton to finish on 109 not out. Steady and Fish coming in at 8 and 9 kept things going with 23 and 34 respectively before the innings ran out of overs on 313 for 8.

In reply Knebworth Park were never in the hunt as plenty of economical bowling at the outset kept Fosters well in charge. Special mention to the day's spin twins as Cheesy (1 for 26) and James Stead (1 for 36) bowled excellent 10 over spells. Fish was able to give lesser faces a bowl whilst still knowing there was no chance of defeat.

This was a very weak 1st XI that made the trip to Radlett and although it was useful experience the result was clearly a poor one.

Stand in skipper tried 8 bowlers to try to stem the tide of the Radlett innings and most struggled to keep the runs in check. Most successful in that regard was James Stead who returned 1 for 17 from 6 overs and Sam Barker picked up 2 useful scalps for 39 from his 7 overs. Richard Blaby (clearly thinking the pitch was only 22 yards long) bowled well at the death to give up less than 6 runs per over, before the Radlett innings finally came to an end at 260 for 4.

In reply 15 year old Matt Shore once again showed great maturity in top scoring with 33 despite some unnecessary sledging but he received no support from the rest of the inexperienced top order. It was left to Wellsy to dent an ego with a cameo 22, including one magnificent straight 6, before he was unluckily run out when the bowler failed to hold a return chance from Mark Sayers but somehow managed to divert the ball on to the stumps.

109 all out clearly was well below the required target but hopefully a stronger first team will be seen in later stages of this competition.

The youngsters were given their chance to impress but it was the old hands who eventually came to the rescue.

Northchurch got off to a fast start off of young openers Tony Sayers and Matt Stead but they were eventually to lose their way to the spin bowling of James Stead who took 2 for 27 from his full allocation of 10 overs. None of the other bowlers were put to the sword with only Gregs failing to take a wicket mainly thanks to Mark Sayers completing a terrible bit of cricket as the batsman edged to slip off of the second bounce only to see the laughing Leo juggle and put the catch down. Most successful was Matt Stead with his usual Sunday haul of 3 for 40.

A bit of a go from the not out number 6 batsman saw Northchurch to a respectable 199 for 9.

The reply initially went at full throttle as Declan blasted his way to 71, sharing a 50 opening partnership with Sam Penny who made just 7 (mainly off the edge of the bat). An effort to give the youngsters some experience saw Messrs Fisher and Steady down to bat at 8 and 9 and they were somewhat surprised to find themselves together out in the middle with over 40 runs still required, as only Tony Sayers (17) and Matt Shore (11) reached double figures.

Fish then fell for 39 and still over 30 runs were needed when Gregs strode to the wicket like a batting veteran and proceeded to club a 6 over long on, keep the strike and hit the winning runs to end up with 24 not out, as junior partner Steady held up his end making an unbeaten 11 as the side came home by 2 wickets.