Mark Schumann guided Ickleford to their third win of the season with a polished century. They climbed to third in Division Four with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Bishop s Stortford 2nds who had started the day in second position. After losing the t

Mark Schumann guided Ickleford to their third win of the season with a polished century.

They climbed to third in Division Four with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Bishop's Stortford 2nds who had started the day in second position.

After losing the toss on a good wicket, Ickleford were asked to field and fought back extremely well from 97-1 to bowl the home side out for 200.

Steve Munnery expertly led the bowlers with 4-56 from 14 overs, backed by Tom Reilly (2-28 in 10) and Duncan Jenner (2-28 from nine) and supported by an excellent all-round fielding performance.

The Ickleford response started slowly but the arrival of Schumann at the crease signalled an upturn in the chase with Reilly (58) also picking up the scoring rate.

Schumann played with his customary style and technique in picking off runs all around the ground at a terrific pace.

He required only 80 balls to make a sparkling, chanceless unbeaten 110 with three sixes and 14 fours.

It sealed a third consecutive win for the promotion-chasing villagers, who have only been kept off the top of the league by bad weather which has caused the abandonment of three matches.

* Baldock bucked their losing trend by earning a draw with high-flying Hertingfordbury.

The visitors managed to post a competitive 174 all out from 52.2 overs with Tim Dean taking 3-63 from 18.2 overs and Alistair Jones 5-80 from a marathon stint of 26 overs unchanged.

Baldock's reply got off to a familiar start with the loss of Adam Taylor for a duck.

But the Peacock brothers, James and Robert, then set about a repair job by adding 55 before run machine James was dismissed for a typically fluent 41.

A familiar middle order collapse saw the hosts in real strife at 80-5.

Baldock battled back and Robert Peacock with a fine fifty and Ranjit Rayat again repaired the damage to give the hosts a chance of victory.

After the loss of Peacock, the run rate climbed and Baldock could only muster five off the last over when they needed 15.

Rayat ended up 42no and Jones was unbeaten on 16 as Baldock reached 164-7 off 47 overs.

* Weston secured their first league victory of the season with a spanking 243-run win over County Hall 2nds.

Having been put in by the visitors, Weston soon rattled up the runs against some wayward bowling.

Julian Rudder led the charge scoring an impressive 82 in an opening stand of 119 inside 20 overs with George Lamprell (27).

Despite a middle order wobble, the momentum was taken up again by Carl Richards (66) and Orville Batson (33) in a prosperous fifth wicket partnership of 83 in just 10 overs.

Helped along by extras worth 45 runs, Weston reached a mammoth 295-6 in their 53 overs.

Faced with such a daunting total, County Hall simply crumbled as spin king Thahir Zafarulla went to work.

The batsmen had no answer to his flight and guile as he demolished the opposition by taking 7-22 off 10.2 overs.

* Ickleford Cricketers must have been having a team night out on Saturday.

They wasted no time in beating Sandridge 2nds in Division Nine, taking less than 36 overs in total to win by nine wickets.

Sandridge's decision to bat first backfired badly as the hostile Nick Webb (4-8 from nine overs) removed the heart of the home side's batting.

He gained support from fellow seamers Darren Seaby (3-3) and Dave Allen (2-23) as Sandridge collapsed to 57 all out.

The reply was astonishing as Jon Hare (25no) and Jamin Patel (17no) smashed the runs needed in an amazing six and a half overs for the loss of only one wicket.

* Ickleford seconds were involved in an exciting draw against Dunstable 4ths.

Ickleford batted first and were in trouble at 93-6 before Pretam Rayat (43no) and Greg Covington (36) pulled the innings around and a total of 202-8 was achieved.

Dunstable were always in the hunt and reached the final over needing nine to win with three wickets left but managed only five. Roy Izzard was the most successful bowler with 3-42 from 13 overs.

* Baldock seconds were comfortable winners over Abbots Langley 3rds.

Skipper Phil Lucy (36), Mark Lewis (40) and Duncan Lewis (46) helped Baldock declare their innings on 201-7.

Despite losing three early wickets, Abbots Langley batted positively from the start but Pete Tily (3-26) and Mark Lewis (4-19) bowled well while Andy Diplock had two catches and two stumpings as Baldock dismissed Abbots Langley for 147 off 39 overs to win by 54 runs.