Sawbridgeworth storm back to beat St Margaretsbury in Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League

Sawbridgeworth’s bowlers produced a magnificent fightback as they won their home derby against St Margaretsbury in Saracens Hertfordshire League, Division One by three wickets on Saturday.

Having been put into bat, the visitors looked well placed at 143-2 midway through the 24th over. After opener James Barbett had struck 52 off 44 balls, former Northants player David Murphy and ex-Sawbo all-rounder Charlie Rudkin added 59 for the third wicket.

The game turned on its head as a magnificent piece of fielding by Rehman Ahmed saw him recover brilliantly from a misfield before his spectacular direct hit at the bowler’s end saw Murphy run out for 42.

This sparked a dramatic collapse as the Bury’s last eight wickets fell for just 51 runs

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and they were all out for 194 in just 41.4 overs. By coincidence, Rudkin (48) would also later be run out, but the main damage was done by a brilliant spell from Amit Gupta (3-31) with Michael Burrell (3-38) returning to take 3-1 in 10 balls.

Sawbo’s reply revolved around a third-wicket partnership of 75 between Rob Sanders (52) and Hamish Wardell-Johnson, who top-scored with 60 after being dropped on four by Murphy at slip.

They suffered a mini collapse from 125-2 to 154-6 before Steve Ashman and Luke Monger (17) batted sensibly as they added 36 after the latter had survived an early chance.

Ashman, who skippered the side on what was his 150th first-team league appearance, ended his milestone day by striking two boundaries off his former team-mate Rudkin to finish 23 not out.

The second XI’s trip to Boxmoor in 5B ended in a 149-run defeat.

The hosts recovered from 148-7 to make 263-8 in their 50 overs, with Mohit Shrivastava leading their fightback by top-scoring with 81 from 51 balls.

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James Frans (2-31) and Nick Dale (2-39) were the pick of the Sawbo attack while Aussie Will Offer marked his 19th birthday by claiming a couple of wickets and joint top-scoring with 28.

Skipper Harry Gale was also unbeaten on that score, but the only other double-figure contributions came from Sayaad Hussain (13) and last man Dale (17 off 11 balls) as Sawbo were all out for just 114.

There was also a six-wicket loss for the third XI at Little Hallingbury in Tees Herts & Essex Border League, Division One.

After electing to bat, Sawbo made 182-9 in 40 overs with James Bovaird top-scoring with 69 and Rob Morgan (24) the only other player to pass 20.

In reply, the visitors needed just 22.4 overs to reach 185-4 after Shaurya Singh (36) and Amit Kalyankar (65 off 39 balls) put on 104 for the first wicket. Andrew Foster (3-47) took three of the four wickets to fall.