First Home Defeat For Third Team

Barnes captain Dominic Martin won the toss and had no hesitation to bat on a boiling hot Hertfordshire day. He might have been regretting that decision when he was clean bowled by Tristan Murrell in the third over. Our visitors quickly slipped to 26-2 when Murrell's opening partner Toby Seagrave dismissed Freddie Ayliffe. Barnes fought back but fell from 70-2 to 78-4 when Seagrave and Angus Cumming picked up Slater and Katakay LBW in successive overs as the pendulum swung back our way.

From this point, Barnes batted sensibly with each wicket building a solid partnership as they moved towards a competitive total. The mainstay of their innings was left hander Adam Walters who made 80 not out as we bowled our visitors out for 247 inside 52 overs. Toby Seagrave was the pick of the bowlers, picking up 3-65 while Dan Tidey also bowled an impressive late spell picking up two wickets.

Our reply started poorly and quickly fell to 70-5 with opener Josh Camm (26) the only batsman in the top six to make more than 16. Stuart Quilliam and captain Mark Bater (pictured) started a mini comeback with some excellent strokes and clever running between the wickets. The comeback ended when Quilliam was dismissed for 18 when he was caught and bowled by Walters. Bater continued to counter attack as wickets fell around him as he posted his first half century since being appointed as captain. He was the last batsman to be dismissed for a well made 60 as we bowled out 3.2 overs from safety.