Preston secured their Saracens Herts League Division Two status for another season with a comfortable 57-run victory over Watford Town. The downfall of Preston s season was again evident as they lost early wickets due to poor shot selection, reaching 65-5

Preston secured their Saracens Herts League Division Two status for another season with a comfortable 57-run victory over Watford Town.

The downfall of Preston's season was again evident as they lost early wickets due to poor shot selection, reaching 65-5 by the 15th over.

A solid 81-run sixth wicket partnership between Anthony Ender (51) and Casey Walker (41no) allowed Preston to reach 139-6 by the 35th over.

The loss of Ender brought Richard Gatehouse (19) to the wicket and with Walker, put on 41 valuable runs for the seventh wicket. Preston closed their innings in the 49th over, all out for 205.

Preston made a steady start with the ball restricting Watford to 63-2 by the 15th over and then 83-2 by the 25th over.

The turning point was the introduction of 16-year-old left-arm spinner Max Anderson who returned the matchwinning figures of 11-1-38-4.

In partnership with Indika Samaraweera (12-3-34-2), Preston picked up wickets at regular intervals and also restricted the scoring rate.

Skipper Ashley Catlin picked up the last two wickets to fall as Preston secured victory in the 45th over.

* With the second team not playing, the thirds beat Old Albanian's fourth team by 44 runs to finish runners-up in Division 13 and gain promotion.

Nigel Biggs made a gritty 30, aided by 22 from William Gallimore, in a total of 115-9 in 47 overs.

Biggs completed a fine all-round game with three wickets, backed up by three from over-60s county star Ian Hamilton. Tom Mercer took a wicket and produced a superb direct hit as Preston won in 30 overs.