Matthews leads from the front for Dunstable

Dunstable Town's batting woes finally ended on Saturday as they moved out of the Saracens Herts League Championship relegation zone with a 98-run win over Reed thanks to captain Brad Matthews' superb century.

Although he was eventually run out, Dunstable scored 264, the second time they have passed 200 this term.

Luke Cherry then ripped through Reed’s batting line up with 7-61, whilst Sam Cherry took 3-26 as they bowled the visitors out for 166.

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The 10-man IIs made it successive victories as they chased 172 against Reed IIs in Division Four B and sit 19 points clear at the top.

Opening bowler Joe Thorne took 3-33 as the hosts were restricted to 171-8, while Ian Horton and Dave Barker got Dunstable’s reply off to a good start with 20 apiece.

Jason Strong was run out for 31, but James Bromhall (31no) and Sam Marshall (32no) guided Dunstable home as they reached 172-5.

The IIIs lost for the third time in a row as fell to a six wicket defeat against Datchworth in Division Eight B.

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The hosts were skittled for just 109 as Tom Hill (22no) and Richard Kilduff (20) were the main contributers, as although Hill then took 3-14, Datchworth reached 110-4.

The IVs came up 22 runs short against Clifton in Beds Invitation League Division Two. Soloman Brown took 3-28 as Clifton were bowled out for 155, while opener Paul Gilbert made 29 and Tom Gower hit 38 in his first game for five years, but Dunstable were all out for 133.

In the Beds County League, the Sunday firsts and seconds had the weekend off, as the IIIs moved off the bottom of Division Three with a 52-run victory over Kempston Hammers.

Ian Horton carried his bat for an excellent 104 not out, while Josh Thompson smashed 37 as Dunstable posted 194-8.

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Opening bowlers Ciaran Newton (2-40) and Harry Wright (3-28) set about Kempston’s top order, before Hamzah Khan took two wickets and Ben Adamson finished the job with 2-6 to bowl Kempston out for 142.