Knebworth Park slumped to their second successive defeat in a key bottom of the table clash against Hemel Hempstead. While Chris Brook bowled the meanest figures of the match without luck (0-39 in 19 overs), it was only the off spin of Tom Hemingway (3-47

Knebworth Park slumped to their second successive defeat in a key bottom of the table clash against Hemel Hempstead.

While Chris Brook bowled the meanest figures of the match without luck (0-39 in 19 overs), it was only the off spin of Tom Hemingway (3-47) that made any significant inroads in to the home team's batting as they ended on 244-5.

David Lowe was again in good form but the other four early batsmen contributed only seven runs.

Lowe's sound 68 and Tom Jenkins (37) hauled the innings round to some respectability at 118-4 with a stand of 80.

But after they both departed in quick succession, the Park slumped to 134 all out, the last six wickets falling for just 16 runs.

The seconds could not quite force victory over Reed in the Saracens Herts League Division Two as the last pair hung on for a draw.

A useful team batting effort was led by skipper Jarrod Turner's 42 as Junior d'Abreu (31), Phil Simpson (35) and Paul Slade (20) made other valuable contributions in a total of 211 all out.

Although the visitors had chosen to chase, they never made any positive effort in that direction against the Park's strong bowling attack.

Slade took 3-23 before a muscle strain injury ended his activity in the game.

Spinners Turner (4-49) and Karl Padalia (2-43) sought to win the game but it was not until the final few overs that they broke through stubborn resistance.

Then they only had one delivery at the last batsman to win the game as Reed closed on 162-9.

The thirds narrowly failed to pull off victory over Holtwhites Trinibis with a strong performance.

After Mark Turner (57) and Graham Martin (24) gave them an 87-run opening stand, they never looked back.

Under-17 Josh Roseberry (49) and Alex Richmond (31) led the charge to a healthy total of 243-8.

The visitors lost wickets at regular intervals with Robbie Woodburn (3-42) and Bill Martin (3-52) the most successful but they could not break the back of the tailend resistance as Holtwhites hung on at 193-8.

An impressive recovery by the high-riding fourths was not enough to pull off victory at Wheathampstead 2nds and they had to settle for a draw.

Tommy Hull was the outstanding bowler with 4-49 as the home side built an impressive total of 243-8. Bret Painter (24) and Chris Scott (31) gave the reply a handy start of 55 for the first wicket before they fell away.

The innings was not looking well placed at 115-6 before stand-in skipper Gideon Sutcliffe (63no) and under-15 James Leather (45) added 92. In the end they finished short of the target with a bold effort of 228-8.

The fifths went down to Old Cholmeleians. After a bright start to their reply thanks to Chris Bonser (60) and Richard Leather (38), they collapsed to 132 in reply to the visitors' 209-5 after Ross Courtney took 3-56 off 16 overs.

Only the sixth team enjoyed the taste of victory thanks to a dramatic last ditch stand in a low-scoring game.

On a good wicket, poor batting accounted for most of the wickets as David Mantle (4-20) and youngsters Matt Hutchinson and Haydon Bartlett-Tasker bagged two apiece to dismiss the home side for 89.

Park's reply began poorly before Ian Woods led a recovery but a string of foolhardy shots against good, accurate bowling saw them slide to 60-8.

Graham Rose (22no) and Chris Johnson saw them home in a stand of 32, giving the sixths their third win in four matches in the battle to avoid relegation.