Fours Defeated But Not Beaten

Ben Bezani bowling an excellent length struck early and Chris Powell picked up three wickets ably assisted by some top catches in the field. Captain Grout bowled a tight spell and kept the pressure on the hosts and with five overs to go they were set on 161-5.

Wooburn tried to hit out at the end but a team hatrick including a superb direct hit from Matt Cave kept them to 195-9 off their 45 overs. The Fourth Team always felt the total was gettable and Gemma Marriott with a classy 26 and Nick Wake with 31 assisted by a lot of wides got Tring to 74-1 from the opening 20 overs.

Wooburn tightened things up with some accurate bowling but just as Dick Highton was starting to cut loose he was given out LBW and suddenly we slipped to 120-5 off 33 overs. Grout came out to join Bezani and shades of Stoke Green were looking possible when Bezani blasted a quick 15 but three wickets in an over put a stop to that. Grout and Natalie Gurnett added 30 but Tring ended up 19 short on 176-9.