Kings lift Heath Park Cup as young George shines

Kings Langley have lifted the historic Heath Park Cup after triumphing in the final in the battle of the Langleys.
An Abbotts Langley batsman gets the ball past the Kings wicket keeperAn Abbotts Langley batsman gets the ball past the Kings wicket keeper
An Abbotts Langley batsman gets the ball past the Kings wicket keeper

Kings Langley beat Abbots Langley by two wickets in what ended up as a close-run encounter.

The knock-out T20 competition, sponsored by Adex, dates back to 1960.

Abbots won the toss and batted first at Hemel’s Heath Park ground on Friday.

Kings Langley fire the winning runsKings Langley fire the winning runs
Kings Langley fire the winning runs

Nick Gurney bashed away merrily to start off with for Abbots until the introduction of slower bowlers Varman Ratnakumaran and Christian James put a bit of a halt to proceedings.

Ratnakumaran ended with figures of 1-21 off five overs in an impressive showing.

Abbots nearly batted through all 20 overs to reach 138 all out with the last wicket taken in the final over. James picked up three wickets while Mark Brazier snagged two.

Kings set off in their chase and 14-year-old wicketkeeper and opener George Langston – who is also on Watford FCs books – kept things moving with a score of 45.

Kings Langley players celebrate taking a wicketKings Langley players celebrate taking a wicket
Kings Langley players celebrate taking a wicket

That won him the man of the match award as it gave Kings the base from which later batsmen could launch the assault to win the game – which they did in the last over with about three balls to go.

It’s a funny old game – Kings have this year won both the Heath Park Cup and the Watford Observer Cup but are rock bottom of Herts League Division one with only one win all season over Shenley Village to show for their efforts.

Nick Wright, Hemel and Herts minor counties side legend of yore performed the master of ceremonies activities and kept the crowds entertained at the end of the game for the trophy presentations.

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