Dunstable move away from the drop after Hoddesdon draw

Dunstable's Saturday first team moved out of the Herts League Championship drop zone with a winning draw against Hoddesdon.
Dunstable IIIs batsman Paul Gilbert is stumped at the weekendDunstable IIIs batsman Paul Gilbert is stumped at the weekend
Dunstable IIIs batsman Paul Gilbert is stumped at the weekend

After a rain-affected first innings, Dunstable managed to set their hosts 199 to win after Guy Hill hit 55 and Ben Welch 48 in their total of 198-6.

However, Dunstable could only take eight wickets as Hoddesdon finished 159-8 from 44 overs with Mike Alston claiming three wickets.

The IIs were frustrated by the weather as they had to settle for 10 points after their Division Four B game at Broxbourne was abandoned.

Awais Khan claimed four wickets after being promoted from the third team last week as the hosts could only reach 163-8.

Dunstable were well placed at 60-2 from 14 overs until the rain arrived to end any chance of a result.

The IIIs continued their march to the Division Eight B title by making it eight wins from eight as Josh Thompson hit 95 on his Dunstable debut.

Thompson smashed 11 fours and six sixes and put on a stand of 138 with Adam Lewis who hit 71 with 13 fours.

Before that, Steve Rumball hit 40 as Dunstable powered to 273-7 from just 44 overs.

Khuram Farooq then took 5-24 from 11.2 overs and Lewis 3-10 as Sawbridgeworth were bowled out for just 107.

The IVs suffered their fourth defeat of the season at Lancot Park in the Beds Invitation League Division Four despite Dean Woods’ first half-century of the campaign.

Dunstable were given just 27 overs to bat due to a torrential downpour and after a slow start, Woods hit an unbeaten 50 and Pete Treharne 23 as the hosts set Caldecote 130 to win after finishing on 129-5.

Despite Sam Spokes’ two wickets, Caldecote made light work of their target, surpassing it with 10 balls to spare at 131-4.

The Sunday first team took a huge step towards consecutive Beds County League Premier Division titles by comprehensively beating second-placed Southill Park.

Ian Gilbert’s 3-12 helped reduce Southill to 122 all out, before two wickets from Sam Cherry was followed by 37 with the bat as Dunstable comfortably reached 124-5 from 37.4 overs.

The IIs’ Division One struggles continued as they narrowly missed out against Ickleford.

Dunstable were set 187 to win after Awais Khan added to his four wickets on Saturday with 3-16 on Sunday whilst brother Hamzah, Ayub Khan and Khuram Farooq claimed two apiece in their opponents’ 186 all out.

Andy Watts (41) and Adam Lewis (30) put on 82 for the fifth wicket after Dunstable were reduced to 51-4.

A middle order revival followed, but they eventually fell just seven runs short, dismissed for 179 with 2.2 overs to spare.

The IIIs remain rooted to the bottom of the Third Division as they were comfortably beaten once again by Sharnbrook.

Ben Adamson top scored with 27 as Dunstable were bowled out for just 98 at Lancot Park, then despite taking four wickets in the process, Sharnbrook reached 99-4 in just 16 overs.

Related topics: