Hemel’s firsts are too good in win
Hemel Hempstead Town CC were in good form to see off last season’s promoted Division One champions Chorleywood.
Hemel sealed an 81-run win to see off their hosts, despite batting first and losing Brett Penny third ball.
Skipper Hemish Ilangaratne dug himself in and went on to score 93 (16x4) from 145 balls. The next three batsmen scored 30s with Harry Ganley (30), John Cassidy (33) and Tom Elborn (31).
That saw Hemel up to 245-9 from 60 overs, not as much as they may have hoped for but sufficient.
Hemel then used eight bowlers as they dismissed Chorleywood for 164 with half a dozen overs to spare. Leader of the pack was Darren James who picked up 5-31 from ten overs, coming back on at the end to remove the last three batsmen.
Hemel sit in sixth place in the Championship.
Hemel 2s secured their second win of the season as they beat Letchworth GC, although they still remain bottom of Division 3A.
The win moved them closer to the other bottom sides, one of whom is Letchworth who are eighth.
Letchworth won toss and batted and ran into an on-fire Dil Khan who rattled through to 5-25 from his ten overs to reduce LGC II to 165 all out in 47 overs.
Hemel II then tapped off 168-3 in 33 overs with opener Aaron Wilson scoring 74* (11x4) and Ed Langley 51 (6x4, 2x6) as victory was eased.
There was a surprise defeat for Hemel III away against a much improved Rickmansworth II side.
Winning the toss, putting Rickmansworth in and bowling them out for 159, Hemel III would have looked to a victory given their previous wins in the season.
Callum Humphrey opened the bowling and returned 3-14 from his ten overs. But other than Kam Akhtar (33) and Max Clark (25) Hemel were run through for just 112 to lose by 47 runs. Hemel are third in Division 6A.
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