Hitchin drew their Saracens Herts League top of the table clash with Millhillians on Saturday. Losing the toss on a hot day in Mill Hill, they were asked to field first and did well to keep the hosts down to 197-8 off their 53 overs. Herts county man Dave

Hitchin drew their Saracens Herts League top of the table clash with Millhillians on Saturday.

Losing the toss on a hot day in Mill Hill, they were asked to field first and did well to keep the hosts down to 197-8 off their 53 overs. Herts county man Dave Moore took 4-74 off 20 overs.

In reply, Hitchin lost Cameron Boyd and Jimmy Lewis early on but a partnership between Craig Millwood and Jeremy Heath of 129 gave Hitchin a sniff of victory.

Heath was eventually run out for a brilliant 43 and Hitchin needed 42 to win off six overs.

Disaster then struck twice as the dangerous Will Pugh was dismissed and shortly after Craig Millwood was out to a brilliant diving catch near the boundary for 102.

With boundaries required for victory and the home side having eight men back on the fence, Hitchin could not reach their winning target and they finished on 187-6.

The seconds came out on top in a high-scoring game at Lucas Lane against Radlett.

Batting first, a slow but steady start saw the score reach 45 before Ian Mills (20) was adjudged leg before.

Chris Maylin (70) then joined Daryl Collins (65) in a partnership of 90 in only 14 overs.

Tim Porter (30) and Devon Woolley (70no) took their chance and allowed Hitchin to declare on 244-8 from 50 overs.

Radlett's batsmen had clearly been inspired by Twenty20 cricket as they were 90-5 after just 12 overs.

Despite a brilliant unbeaten 138 from one of the Radlett number,

Chris Slack returned to pick up two crucial wickets and two of the last three wickets were run outs courtesy of Mills and Collins as Radlett closed on 228 all out.

Ian Goddard (3-60 from 19 overs) was the pick of the Hitchin bowlers.

Letchworth showed their Jekyll and Hyde nature with a poor performance against Harpenden in a game they were expected to win.

Skipper Colin Letford won the toss and decided to field and set up a run chase.

A lacklustre fielding display and an almost faultless innings of 107no from Iroshan de Silva on a typically friendly Whitethorn Lane wicket helped Harpenden reach 229-5 off their 53 overs.

In reply Letchworth lost Letford and Richard Walsh cheaply but John Hilliard and Steve March took the score to 71-2 before Hilliard was brilliantly caught and bowled for 47.

Then the innings lost momentum as Ian Bowyer went for nought and then March was adjudged leg before for 20.

Dave Albon (32) and Ben Cottenden (30) got the innings back on track with a series of boundaries.

But the controversial dismissal of Cottenden, given out caught at short extra cover off an apparent bump ball after a lengthy consultation between the umpires, set Letchworth back again after which despite Richard Jerome's 25no the innings fizzled out on 176-7.

It was a dismal day all round for Letchworth with the seconds, thirds and fourths all losing and the fifth XI unable to raise a side no doubt due to the World Cup.

The second XI never looked like setting Cockfosters a decent target with skipper Graham Bishton's 37 the only significant contribution as the home side won comfortably by five wickets.

The thirds batted well against UCA at Fairfield Park, reaching 206-8 with major contributions from Andy Bishton (59), Dominic Chatfield (51), Jerry Dovey (33) and Mike Fernando (32).

But their bowling was never good enough to stop the visitors cruising to a seven wicket victory and the fourth XI suffered even worse, going down by nine wickets at Old Cholmeleians.

* Sunday saw Letchworth first XI easily overcome Northwood in the Becker Cup.

Northwood won the toss and batted, reaching 207-7 off their 50 overs with spin twins Richard Jerome (2-32) and Stewart Roberts (2-22) bowling their 10 overs economically.

Letchworth, thanks to a superb 119no from John Hilliard and supported by Richard Walsh (36) and Ian Bowyer (35no), cruised to an eight-wicket win.

* Hitchin lost a friendly against Potters Bar by nine runs on Sunday.

The home side made 256-3 and in reply Simon Bayston made 70, Richard Middleditch 27, Jimmy Lewis 50, Jonny Gray 28 and Craig Millwood 29no.