Letchworth Garden City suffered a heavy 75-run defeat at home to second place Shenley Village in the Herts Cricket League Championship on Saturday.

81 from Shenley opener Charles Thurston helped the away side to 235-9 from their 60 overs, setting their opponents a difficult run chase.

Letchworth's reply never really got going and despite a half century from Daren Lewis, their top and middle order were blown away by Fahim Akbar, who took seven wickets.

The hosts made a good start as they took an early wicket, with Praveen Bhatti removing Bilal Mohammed for just five.

But, an 83-run partnership between Thurston and Lloyd Willingham steadied the ship, pushing the visitors to 110.

Willingham went for 28 as Maxford Pipe claimed his first wicket of the day, before he took the key wicket of Thurston for 81 to reduce them to 125-3.

Marwan Mohammed then went for two, but Morgan Stanley (36) and Matthew Evans (37) added key middle order runs before Pipe got both.

The tailend struggled to add runs but the damage had already been done, with Shenley finishing 235-9.

Pipe impressed with the ball for Letchworth, recording figures of 5-76.

The home side's response started poorly, with openers William Aitkenhead (20) and Tom Simmons (14) both removed early on by Akbar to leave Letchworth 39-2.

Their innings crumbled, with Akbar getting Nathan Sprittles, David Sprittles, Pipe and George Denman for ducks.

Despite 51 from Lewis, it wasn't enough for Letchworth, as they finished 160 all out to fall to a 75-run defeat.

The loss leaves them sixth in the Championship, and they face a difficult test on Saturday when they play third-placed Reed.