Both Queens Park Westfield and Biddenham were in the winner’s enclosure on Sunday as they picked up victories in the latest round of fixtures in the Bedfordshire County Cricket League Premier Division this weekend (22 June).
Queens Park are still in mid table, but picked up their third win in six games with a comfortable victory against Lutonian while Biddenham remain a spot above them in fourth with an equally satisfying triumph against Biggleswade.
Queens Park travelled to second placed, Lutonian and won in convincing fashion by 92 runs.
Batting first, Westfield piled on 241-6 as Shivasurya Krishna top scored with 63 backed up by 55 from Amaan Mehmood.
In response, Lutonian could only stagger their way to 149 all out, as Jahangir Ahmed (3-17) and Aamir Younis (3-28) did the majority of the damage with the ball for Queen’s Park.
Biddenham remain fourth in the league’s top division after a 53-run victory at home to Biggleswade after scoring a respectable 228/9 in their forty overs; Thomas Nelson top scoring with 51.
Muhammad Qadoos bowled excellently at the death for Biggleswade to restrict Biddenham, as he ended with a deserved five-wicket haul in claiming figures of 5-32.
However, his side couldn’t get going with the bat in hand, reaching just 175/9 despite a late 41 from captain, Gabe Manthorp at ten in the order, with four Biddenham bowlers gaining a brace of wickets apiece.
Runs galore in Division One
Bedford Cricket Club faced fellow joint leaders, Ampthill at the top of Division One and once again put their opponents to the sword with bat in hand; thrashing their opponents by a whopping 198 runs at The Bury.
Bedford scored 313 at Flitwick last Sunday, but bettered that this week as they smashed 331/8, led superbly by a stunning 143 from Vedant Somal at the top of the order alongside an excellent if slightly painful 99 for Rohan Mehmi.
Their partnership of 206 is Bedford’s fifth highest of all time, with Somal’s 108-ball 143 creeping into the top ten innings for Bedford Cricket Club since their rebirth in 2006.
Ampthill began their chase at a rate of knots but quickly fell apart, falling from 63/2 to 133 all out, as Ryan Chambers claimed 5-37.
With the divisions other co-leaders, Ickwell not playing, Bedford are now top of Division One on their own with six victories out of six.
331/8 is a monster score by all accounts, but it was not the highest total in Division One on Sunday as Eggington Foresters scored a record 427/6 at New Bradwell, winning by a monumental 316 runs.
Peckham leads Harrold to another win
Harrold Cricket Club won their fourth straight game in Division Two as they also posted a large total in seeing off Preston by 119 runs.
Joe Peckham’s brisk 104 from 81 balls led Harrold to 277/5 in their allocation of overs and it was too much for Preston to handle, as three wickets apiece for Rick Davis and Tom Nicol carved open the chase.
It was Peckham who stole the show however, with bowling figures of 4-4 to cap the perfect all-round performance.
Elstow were also in the runs in Division Two; posting a decent target of 239 for Letchworth Garden City at Whitethorn Lane in Hertfordshire, but the hosts were able to chase it down with just two wickets remaining in a tense affair.
Ryan Lammin (63) and 40 for Vikram Masih helped Elstow to a respectable target, despite leaving 29 deliveries out there having been bowled out in 35.1 overs and Letchworth used that to their advantage, chasing the target despite 3-38 for for Faheem Mahmood.
Queen’s Park Westfield’s 2nd XI were victors by five wickets against Eversholt in the same division, but the 3rd XI were skittled for just 67 in Division Three as they fell at Eggington Foresters’ 2nd XI.
Bedford CC’s 2nd XI are hanging on to the promotion chase in Division Four, and managed to squeeze past Clifton by two wickets in a low-scoring encounter at the Claybridge Ground.
Elstow and Harrold 2nd XI’s were both defeated in Division Six, as Biggleswade 2nd XI beat Harrold by 59 runs after piling on 250/9, with Elstow losing out by a single wicket against Bletchley Town at The Warren.
Queens Park Westfield 4th XI were victors in the same division, chasing down Cople’s lowly total of 113 with the loss of four wickets.
