Preston are off the mark in the Saracens Herts League Division Two after beating Old Finchleians. Winning the toss and electing to bowl first on a overcast day, Preston made early inroads into the Old Finchleians batting. They were reduced to 49-4 by the

Preston are off the mark in the Saracens Herts League Division Two after beating Old Finchleians.

Winning the toss and electing to bowl first on a overcast day, Preston made early inroads into the Old Finchleians batting.

They were reduced to 49-4 by the 20th over, Anthony Ender bowling with good pace in tandem with the evergreen Mark Waters.

Waters, who bowled unchanged, returned the exceptional figures of 4-53 from 26 overs, and he was supported well by spinner Andy Riant.

Old Finchleians were finally dismissed in the 52nd over for 154.

Preston's chase saw them bring up the 50 inside the eighth over thanks to some fine shots from opener Chris Cole (47). With the aggressive Richard Gatehouse (41) and David Fleckney (39no) scoring at a run-a-ball, Preston raced to victory in the 27th over for the loss of three wickets.

Their seconds drew at Hertford 3rds in a match they should have won.

The home team batted first and were contained to 136-8 in their 53 overs, Casey Walker the pick of the bowlers with 3-20.

In reply, Preston had a disastrous start at 2-3 including three ducks before Matt Burleigh (51) and Dave Saunders (30) recovered the situation.

Despite a late flurry from Greig Hearne and Louis Harrington-Smith, the bowling of Osgood was too steady and Preston fell just three runs short of victory with one wicket intact.

Datchworth went down by nine wickets to Letchworth 2nds at Whitethorn Lane in Division Three.

Chris Brown (36) and Luke Bennett (45) made useful contributions in their 184-8 before Letchworth won with five overs to spare.

A great all-round fielding performance from the seconds saw them bowl out Bayford and Hertford 2nds for 79.

Simon Little was centre stage, bowling 19.5 overs (including 11 maidens) for figures of 6-22. Seven of his overs were consecutive maidens, with him taking 5-0 in that period!

Datchworth lost four wickets in chasing down the meagre total.

The thirds went down by five wickets to Radlett 5ths.

Ickleford and Clifton shared the spoils in Division Four.

Mark Turner's 44 was the top score in a consistent batting display as Ickleford reached 223-6.

Mark Brownridge made 86 for Clifton in reply who were 186-2 at one stage. But Tom Reilly (3-34) put the brakes on and Clifton closed on 198-8.

Baldock lost a game they should have won against St Margaretsbury 2nds by 38 runs.

Saints crawled to 30-1 off 28 overs before losing two more wickets.

A good partnership saw 90 added in the next 16 overs in an astonishing turn around.

Tim Dean ran through the rest of the team for excellent figures of 6-44 from 15.2 overs as Saints were 153 all out.

Baldock's chase was a stuttering affair with wickets falling at regular intervals.

Only James Peacock with a controlled knock of 36 managed to tame the bowlers and when he was sixth out with the score on 60 the match was all but lost.

The tailenders battled hard to get Baldock to a unlikely victory but they fell short and were bowled out for 115 in 40 overs.

Robinson finished with 7-47 and was clearly the man of the match.

The seconds beat Dunstable 4ths by eight wickets with 27 overs in hand.

Phil Lucy took 3-33 and new spinner John Bracken claimed 3-10 as Dunstable were all out for 116. Simon Goodlad's 36 helped Baldock home in reply.

Ickleford Cricketers drew a topsy-turvy game against Bushey 2nds.

Bushey were 87-5 but recovered to post a reasonable 207 all out. Pacemen Dave Allen (3-42) and Darren Seaby (3-42) were among the wickets.

Cricketers got off to a good start with Kevin Shinner (32) and Peter Watson (48) but began to lose wickets steadily until a superb 55no by Ben Woodbridge took them to 203-8 and a draw.