KNEBWORTH Park was comfortably beaten by ten wickets by leaders Radlett in the Home Counties League Division Two East on Saturday. With nearly all their batsmen making useful starts they failed to press on to get the big score that was needed to stretch t

KNEBWORTH Park was comfortably beaten by ten wickets by leaders Radlett in the Home Counties League Division Two East on Saturday.

With nearly all their batsmen making useful starts they failed to press on to get the big score that was needed to stretch their powerful opponents.

David Lowe fell early to Stuart Browne for a duck, but Rob Murphy 37 and Tom Jenkins were going well until Jenkins who had struck nine fours in his 38 had a rush of blood and lost his wicket.

Murphy and Anthony Pratt 50 added a further 56 for the third wicket. Tony Skeggs then started to step up his innings when he was stumped off Haydn Smith for 24.

The Park then shot themselves in the foot with three run outs which included Ryan Skeggs 15 and Adrian Holmes 19 in a final total of 216-8.

On a superb batting surface, Shane Burger 121 not out in only 102 balls led the Radlett charge as they surged past the Park total in 38 overs with Nick Fielden 81 not out.

Outstanding batting from Jarrod Turner 75 and Terry Morton 86 not out led the seconds to an impressive total against Northchurch in Division Two.

With support from Shaun Robinson 26 and Phil Simpson 42, they took the score on 265-5.

The Park bowlers gradually chipped away at the visitors batting but in the end couldn't make the breakthrough and they finished on 221 for 7, but at least there were 17 useful points in the bag.

The thirds went down by just four runs in their top of the table clash against West Herts 2nds.

Another fine spell of fast bowling from young Nick Simpson 4-44 and the evergreen James Wright 3-29 bowled out the visitors for 162.

The Park were going well as Nathan Rose struck a quick 47 before disaster struck when anchor man Ian Pickering was run out for 22 and they slid from 83 for 3 to 84-6.

Michael Carter 35 and Sandy Reynolds 26 almost salvaged the situation, but in the end they couldn't quite make it.

Young guns Ed Wright 82 and Sam Jones 70 piled on the runs for the fourths as they posted an impressive 246-8 against Dunstable 3rds.

Bret Painter, the stand-in captain, 25 and Haydon Bartlett-Tasker 14 laid a useful foundation.

Although opening bowlers Michael Fisher 2-31 and Mark Taylor 3-59 made the early breakthrough, they couldn't make headway through the middle order. Painter did pick up 2-25, and in the end the home side were hanging on for a draw at 211-8.

Their 18 points continued to keep them up with the leaders in Division Eight.

The fifths had their second win in succession at home to Dunstable 4ths.

After under-14 leg spinner Conor Alderman restricted the visitors in opening the bowling and taking 1-40 in 16 overs, skipper John Inman snapped up 5-21 with his variation of flight and Mark Folwell's mix and match bowling taking 2-28, they bowled out the visitors for 165.

Steve Jenkins 72 not out and David Barwick 65 not out, then powered them to a nine wicket win, combining hard hitting with aggressive running between the wickets in finishing on 166 for 1, winning with 11 overs to spare.

Sadly, the numbers of players choosing to watch England's football debacle meant that the sixth team had to concede their match with Stevenage 4ths.