DIVISION TWO: Old Albanian 209-6 (30pts) beat Northwood Town 206-9 (16pts) by four wickets

It was Northwood Town's turn to be haunted by an old boy as they succumbed to an Old Albanian side spearheaded by Kwesi Roy.

Roy played a short spell for Town last summer but departed in a quest for better reward and his return certainly rewarded Old Albanian as he took four wickets and made an unbeaten 123 to bring victory to his new club.

Town did bank 16 points but had they not suffered a familiar middle order collapse it could have been a much better return had they not added just 56 runs from the final 15 overs, with seven wickets in hand.

Town skipper Raj Ahluwalia lamented the return of Roy, saying: "Kwesi won them the game but like last week if we had taken a simple chance early on we'd have probably gone on to win.

"Our performance in general was fairly solid but again some slicker batting in the middle order would have put us in a far better position."

Ahluwalia won the toss and he and Tim Piper battled well against Roy in a classic cat and mouse encounter, showing plenty of intent as they kept up a reasonable run rate in a partnership of 67 before Piper (33) was finally snared.

Rohan Lee (22) looked to continue his recent good form with some expansive shots before falling plumb LBW.

The visitors introduced two left-arm spinners to slow the pace and Town became stuck in a rut despite some innovative shots from Phil Costard (15).

Ahluwalia batted superbly for his 73 and when he was dismissed with Town on 150 for three they had a solid platform on which to build a good total with 15 overs to go.

However, Roy came back to destroy the middle order and it was up to Johanes Van EE and Scott Walker to drag Town back into a respectable position.

Van EE relished the challenge and smashed a quick 24 including two huge sixes while Walker made a more patient 15 as Town closed on 206 for nine, with Roy having claimed four for 49.

Town began well, taking two quick wickets but Roy gradually moved through the gears with some gritty support at the other end.

He was let off the hook when Town spilled a simple chance and he never looked back.

Kazim Naqvi was Town's most dangerous bowler and he and Dave Bushnell took two wickets, but Roy remained despite Ahluwalia shuffling his pack, taking a wicket himself while Van EE also snared one despite a nagging injury.

Roy remained to see his side home with four wickets and seven balls in hand, ending with an impressive undefeated century.

* Availibility problems throughout the club inevitably hit the second team hardest and they were made to suffer by promotion chasing Redbourn.

Stand-in skipper Mike Lister was asked to field and his decision to open the bowling himself paid off as he picked up three for 31, but that was about the only good news of the day as Redbourn went on the rampage.

The hosts averaged seven an over from the start on a superb track before declaring on 282 for five off just 40 overs, Richard Blair scoring 155.

Town never had the personnel to even get close but they battled gamely and Syed Siddarth (27), Jamie Cotton (31) and Jonno Armitage (16) all batted well but Town were finally dismissed for 105.

* Town visit local rivals Northwood at 6.30pm on Tuesday for a Twenty20 game as part of their cricket week.