KENTON has to settle for a winning draw away to local rivals Bessborough on Saturday, after they failed to capitalise on a strong performance by their batsmen.

After being inserted on a slow wicket at Headstone Manor, Kenton openers Schopun Jooma and Johnny Mills patiently set about building a total against some accurate new ball bowling from Ian Barrie and Werner Botha.

As the batsman got their eye in so the runs began to flow, and a fine century opening stand was compiled.

After Jooma departed for 52, Mills was joined by Ashish Karia (17) and Deepak Singh (32), who both made valuable contributions to the total.

Mills was finally dismissed in the last over of the innings for a fine 106.

Some late hitting by Sachin Patel ensured Kenton posted a healthy total of 247 for six from 50 overs.

In reply, Bessborough were immediately on the back foot as Moshin Zubair and Ashish Karia picked up wickets with the new ball. When Zubair removed dangerman Barrie to claim his third wicket, Bessborough were in deep trouble at 64 for four from 14 overs.

Werner Botha then played a responsible innings for the home side as Kenton struggled to make further inroads. The introduction of Kaushal Patel proved to be fruitful as he picked up Botha, but as the overs ticked by the Kenton bowlers were unable to remove the Bessborough tail and push towards victory.

In the end, Bessborough batted out the remaining overs to reach 165 for eight and picked up a point, but they are still rooted to the bottom of the league.

Meanwhile, Kenton slipped further behind leaders Harrow Town and will be looking to make amends when they host Hornsey at Kenton Park Road this Saturday.

An inspired Kenton side were too strong for Second Division Harrow in the 20-20 Cup at Payne's Folly last Thursday.

Batting first, Kenton made a blistering start as Schopun Jooma (48 from 20 balls) and Deepak Singh (34 from 28 balls) took the attack to the Harrow bowlers. Kanti Vaghtiani then hit 23 from 11 balls to leave Kenton on 120 for three after 12 overs.

Although the run rate subsided somewhat thereafter, Kenton were still able to post 173 from 20 overs.

Moshin Zubair bowled a miserly first over for Kenton, however, Dave Walker brought Harrow back into the game as 26 runs came from the following over.

As Harrow started to accelerate, Zubair deservedly picked up the wicket of Walker, then Jooma dismissed the dangerous Darren Crook as Kenton's bowlers tightened their grip on the game.

The rate required for victory was slowly creeping up past 10 an over and, despite some lusty late blows from Steve Clarke, 13 runs were required from the last over with only two wickets in hand.

But Rishi Kotecha held his nerve to bowl a tight final over to give Kenton a hard earned six run win.