LETCHWORTH had their best Saturday of the season to date, with four sides registering emphatic victories whilst the 2nd XI shared nearly 550 runs with St Albans. The 1st XI comfortably beat a poor Berkhamstead side after Letchworth skipper Colin Letford h

LETCHWORTH had their best Saturday of the season to date, with four sides registering emphatic victories whilst the 2nd XI shared nearly 550 runs with St Albans.

The 1st XI comfortably beat a poor Berkhamstead side after Letchworth skipper Colin Letford had won the toss and elected to bowl. He would have been regretting his decision as the home side raced to 73 for no wicket off 12 overs with Seargent (52) and Hughes (48) scoring freely.

But the introduction of the spinners brought a change of fortune as wickets began to fall. Australian Schan led a charmed life, helped by some dismal fielding, to reach 58 before being run out

But the rest of the innings subsided to Richard Jerome (4-49) and Stewart Roberts (2-95) who was expensive but unlucky in his first bowl of the season as berko made 217-9.

Letchworth lost John Hilliard with only one on the board, but then Letford and Richard Walsh added 105 before Letford was bowled for 48.

Steve March joined Walsh in a stand of 55 before Walsh was caught at mid wicket for an excellent 82.

At this point Letchworth had slipped behind the clock needing nearly eight an over and Dave Albon was promoted to up the scoring rate, but he went cheaply.

However, March showed all his experience to steer his side home reaching 53 not out helped by Ian Bowyer (12 not out) as Letchworth got home on 219-5 with two overs to spare.

The 2nd XI played a very high scoring draw on a perfect wicket at Whitethorn Lane.

Alex Hislop (92) and Graham Bishton (55) built the score and then Anush Newman (38 off 20 balls) helped Letchworth to declare after 50 overs on 276-8.

St Albans' reply was 256-4 and they may feel they should have done better as their opener was 130 not out and they had six wickets in hand at the end.

The 3rd XI fielded first at Little Berkhamsted Sahibs who reached 203-6, but Letchworth made short work of this with Dave Mullen (114 not out) and Andy Bishton (59) taking them to an eight wicket victory and the 4th XI also won by eight wickets as Ed Smith (5-14) helped bowl out St Albans 4th XI for 110 before Mike Fernando (43 not out) steered Letchworth to victory.

The 5th XI also bowled out their opposition, Potters Bar 5th XI for 110 and won by five wickets, with Josh Furness 48 not out.

There was an astonishing finish to the game on Sunday against The President's XI who batted first and reached 244-8 off 45 overs with notable contributions from Navin Seneveratne (96), Will Pugh (48) and Craig Millwood (41).

In reply, Letchworth looked to be cruising to a comfortable victory with Tom Cranston compiling an excellent 82 backed up by John Hilliard (41), Mathew Collison (36) and Ian Bowyer (24).

When Presidents XI skipper Gavin Booth took the ball for the final over, Letchworth needed five to win with four wickets in hand, but Cranston holed out on the boundary off the first ball and the next two batsmen, attempting to finish the game with a big hit, did likewise to give Booth a remarkable hat-trick.

Three runs were scrambled off the next two balls, but Booth then bowled the last man with the last ball of the match to snatch an unlikely victory by one run.