Kenton's league season got off to the worst possible start at Highgate on Saturday when a poor showing with the ball and in the field consigned them to defeat.

Having been inserted by the home side, Kenton got off to a cautious start before Deepak Singh was bowled by Tony Duckett for 10.

The latter also accounted for Sachin Patel soon after, although to a somewhat dubious lbw decision.

Good contributions from Schopun Jooma (38) and Ashish Karia (32) briefly put Kenton in the ascendancy, but their dismissals were followed by a middle order collapse to leave the away side struggling on 115 for six.

However, a useful seventh wicket partnership of 51 between Rishi Kotecha (43) and Hilan Shah (17) steadied the ship. The tail of Moshin Zubair and Sami Hyder then wagged sufficiently for Kenton to post a competitive 213 for eight from 55 overs.

Highgate got off to a similarly slow start and Karia soon had Jake Sharland trapped in front with only 13 on the board. But the early pressure Kenton had created was soon to be released as a succession of bad balls were clinically dispatched to the boundary by opener James Warburton.

The introduction of Zubair proved successful as he struck in his first over to remove Ponniah Vijendran.

However, an increasing number of lapses in the field meant that Kenton were never able to stifle the run rate and, when Warburton was finally dismissed for 72 with his team on 123 for four, the game had started to drift from Kenton's grasp.

Highgate also experienced a slight wobble in the middle to leave them at 163 for six but their lower order then combined calm heads with energetic running between the wickets to pass the four-point target of 174 in the 40th over.

A further 40 runs were needed from the last five overs for the outright win and, helped by a large number of Kenton overthrows and a crucial innings of 28 from Sam Joseph, Highgate scraped home for a three wicket victory.

Kenton will be looking for a vast improvement this Saturday when they entertain the recently relegated Uxbridge at Kenton Park Road.

* On a brighter note, Kenton 2nd XI claimed 10 points at home to Wembley.

Captain Kaliyan Tapariya took 5-53 as Wembley posted 232 for seven from 53 overs.

In reply, Kenton got off to a rapid start with Sohail Butt (36) and Mitul Shah (41) compiling 87 for the first wicket.

Solid contributions all the way down the order saw Kenton home to a two wicket win with an over and a half to spare.