The 1st XI clinched a 74-run victory at Letchworth after bowling their opponents out for 127.

Seventeen-year-olds Tommy Burslem (50) and Alex Palmer (46) starred for the visitors as they put on 201-6 in their 50 overs.

Former Stortford captain David Hughes also chipped in with 48.

This followed the early departure of skipper Eddie Ballard for a duck.

Aussie overseas star Jason Floros also failed with the bat for the second time in three weeks.

Simon Lindop made a rapid 30 from 25 balls at the end to boost the Stortford tally.

With ball in hand, Ballard excelled in the field taking three catches.

Will Bates (28) and David Albon (33) were the only Letchworth batsmen to shine.

The wickets were mainly shared around Ruan Premadasa (3-29), Lindop (3-13) and Ed Abel Smith (3-23).

Stortford’s second team recovered from a poor performance last week to thump Watton-at-Stone at Cricketfield Lane in division four of the Saracens Herts League.

The visitors were bowled out for 135.

Spinner Andrew O’Donovan led the way with 3-26, ably supported by Paul Reed and Chris Thomas.

Stortford won the match by seven wickets, with another youngster, Taylor Weeks, making his mark with a classy 71.

The third team also dominated their home game against Willingale firsts in division two of the Herts & Essex Cricket League.

Restricting them to 162 all out (Peter Cluderay 2-18, Copping 2-20, Williams 2-28), the good quality performance in the field was reflected by three run outs.

The home batting made short work of the target, winning by nine wickets, the highlight being a classy 94 from Stuart Felstead.

Only the fourth team lost in the HECL division four, as they went down by 19 runs.

Hosts Nazeing Common II posted 189-8 (Sarah Walters 50).

The best Stortford bowlers were young Alec Chappell with 2-17 and the not so young Charles Jackson with 2-27.

In reply, the visitors reached 115-2 with few problems, but could not find the necessary momentum to grab the win, finishing on 170-6 (Graeme Sumner 66).