The 1s won the toss and elected to bat at picturesque West Herts aiming to post an imposing total in favourable batting conditions. There were 4 changes from last week's victory against Northwood with Charlee, Avi and Shay returning to the side, as well as 18 year old Ameer Ali making his debut for the club.

Eddie (40) and Avi (46) did superbly to see off the opening bowlers, punishing the bad balls when they came, to firmly put us on top and take us to 97-0 after 16 overs. However, the introduction of spin from Sajjad (3-29) and Rodrigo (3-23) flipped the game on its head as we lost 6 wickets for just 21 runs to leave the hosts firmly in the drivers seat. Shay (47 off 46) and Busby (15) rebuilt superbly, the former really taking the game back to the change bowlers in constructing a 63 run partnership before some fireworks from Jaimin (20) at the backend led us to posting 212, an under par but competitive total.

Shappi (2-37) took an early pole with the new ball before Sumpter (35) and Mukhtar (12) did well to see off the opening bowlers and leave the game in the balance at 44-1. Debutant Ali (10-2-18-2) then produced a magnificent spell taking the important wickets of the set bats and spinning OE’s into favourites. Avi (1-35) and Busby (0-19) ably supported at the other end as West Herts failed to hit a boundary between overs 10 and 37 to restrict the flow of runs. Jaimin (4-41) returned to mop up the tail after Hall’s (0-22) miserly spell, including the important wicket of dangerman Lewis (54) to provide OE’s with their second win of the season!

Player of the match:Ameer, with so much maturity and control from a youngster on debut, is going to be a real talent for the club for years to come. Shout out to the Shah’s who were close second and third! Onto Langleybury at home next week! #comeonyoueees