Stortford edged out by Hertford's fast start

Our matches against our neighbours from Hertford usually provide close contests played in an excellent spirit and this game was no exception.

On a cold evening at Cricketfield Lane, Hertford's skipper Ben Morris started the game by taking 14 runs from Harry Griffin's opening over; all shots of high class that pierced the offside field. Despite Adam Crowther and Harry bowling reasonably well with the new ball, after seven overs our guests had piled on 48 runs with Morris and Phipps scoring at will.

Stephen Walsh and Charlie Peace both entered the attack and bowled decent spells, but found it hard to stem the flow of runs. After the openers retired, it took Joe Burslem's introduction into the attack to finally put the brakes on. Joe dismissed Max Lawrence with a beautifully flighted ball that drew him down the track, allowing Adam Bassingthwaighte, who kept impeccably, to whip off the bails. Joe then flummoxed Matt Riddle with another pearler that clipped the top of off stump. Hertford only managed to score 17 runs from the final five overs and we restricted them to a gettable 115.

In reply, our top three found it hard to match Hertford's scoring rate. Chris Millns chipped a catch to fall for a duck, and Will Bowman, frustrated by finding the infield, holed out for 6. At the other end, skipper Bradley Moon lost the strike for a couple of overs and was caught for 7 as he tried to pick up the tempo.

Harry Griffin came to the crease and proceeded to get us back in the game with a classy 26, including a number of classic cover drives and good running between the wickets. Ben Warman fell for 2 but when Joe Burslem joined Harry, we were on course to reach our target. However, Hertford's tactic of saving their best two bowlers for the final overs meant that getting seven an over would be tough, and so it proved as Max Lawrence's accurate and pacy spell brought him the wickets of Harry and Adam Crowther, and we subsided to 91-7.

Despite the defeat, we bowled and fielded very well, and the result was only decided in the 19th over. We must make the opposition work as hard for their runs as we have to, and if we can do that the wins will follow.