Charlie Randall produced a superb spell of bowling to decimate the St Albans batting line-up and maintain Knebworth Park’s lead at the top of the table in SHCL Division 2A.

Having chosen to bowl on a green tinged wicket, Charlie Randall (7-31) decided it was time to reproduce his form of old with a spell of pace and swing which was far too much for seven of the top eight batsmen.

Sam McCrow bowled without luck or a wicket at the other end, before skipper Guy Warman (3-29) mopped up the tail to bowl them out for a meagre 72.

The chase, unlike the stereotypical Park batting, looked calm and in control as openers Josh Rosebery (29*) and Jarrod Turner (22) took the total to 53 before Turner fell to a lazy shot. Joined by Adam Sergeant (14*) the remaining runs were knocked off with ease within 20 overs.

At the halfway stage of the season Park sit top the table but only by three points from Bishop’s Stortford who they host on Saturday.

In their bottom-of-the-table clash with Met Police, Park 2nds won the toss and opted to bowl in a format where points heavily favour the team batting first.

Gareth Jones and Geoff Bagshaw bowled well but without luck and it wasn’t until they turned to spin that they began to take wickets.

Graham Fisher (2-27) was back to his irreverent best, supported by Alex Richmond (3-58) who bowled well despite some decidedly average fielding with simple catches going down.

The part time off-spin of a returning Haydon Bartlett-Tasker at the death saw them restrict the visitors to 199-8 of their 53 overs.

Bartlett-Tasker (90) got Park off to a rip-roaring start with the Police electing to go with some questionable slow bowling. He played with great composure and maturity to power them into a winning position.

Richard Winchester dug in for a chance-less 81* in which he never once looked like getting out. He has now batted for over 100 overs straight without giving up his wicket, a phenomenal achievement.

An important 24 from Adrian Holmes helped guide Parl to their first victory in two years and it was down to Tom Liversidge (4*) to strike the winning runs.

The 3rds (117 all out) were unable to build on last week’s win as they succumbed to a narrow defeat at Bushey 2nds (118-8).