Difficult Saturday for Ickleford

Ickleford knew they would face a difficult Saturday in the Saracens Herts League - and so it proved.

With no less than 16 players unavailable, this impacted on the strength of all three sides.

The 10-man first team are still striving for their first league win and gave a creditable performance in the draw with Dunstable seconds. Dunstable batted on to 281-6, almost killing the game as they used all 53 of their overs. Tom Reilly was again the pick of the bowlers with 3-75, while Mark Schumann again bowled well with no luck.

Ickleford made a poor start losing Reilly and Sam Giggle with only 21 on the board. But then an excellent partnership of 104 between Schumann and Dave Pursey brought Ickleford back into contention.

Both made 61 as the target came down to eight an over. But when both were out, the target became too much and a draw was achieved at 231-8.

The depleted seconds were well beaten at Bentley Heath. Bentley Heath made fairly slow progress with Roy Izzard bowling a tight 22-over spell, Dan Watson and Tom Walker each taking two wickets.

Scott Crouch was the most successful bowler with 4-32 but a ferocious onslaught from Raja (49) took the score up to 191. This proved far too many for Ickleford who were lacklustre in making just 79 with only two players making double figures.

The thirds were never in the hunt against their Preston counterparts with too many key players missing and a heavy defeat was the consequence.