DIVISION TWO: Cockfosters 139-7 (30pts) beat Northwood Town 135 (7pts) by three wickets

Town raced away after being put in on a very green and damp track although Raj Ahluwalia was out to a wonder catch to leave his side at 25 for one.

Rohan Lee (21) and Tim Piper took Town up to 75 for two but when Piper was caught on the midwicket boundary for 55, Town slumped from 90 for three.

Runs dried up and wickets fell regularly as they collapsed to 110 for seven, with the slower bowlers doing the damage against a depleted Town side.

Mike Lister batted well for 14 with Gurpal Ahluwalia (8 not out) to at least guide the visitors to 135 all out when they had looked unlikely to surpass 110.

Town missed a sharp chance to remove O'Leary second ball and he went on to score 58 out of the first 70 as the hosts cruised to 70 for one.

Kazim Naqvi then produced a fantastic burst to remove three batsmen in one over and Fosters were soon 85 for five with Naqvi accounting for all the wickets.

Ahluwalia brought himself on as Dave Bushnell and Johanes Van EE struggled to find their rhythm and O'Leary holed out off the Town skip-per to make it 95 for six.

Ahluwalia then took himself off to allow the pair to support Naqvi but that proved to be a mistake as both continued to bowl below par and while Naqvi (6-55) claimed another scalp, Cockfosters got home with three wickets remaining.

Ahluwlaia said: "All in all, the top three did not get the support as feared due to a weakened line-up, but Tim batted very well and hopefully a return of key players will give us the depth we need in batting.

"The bowlers need to go back to bowling as a unit as a different one performs every week, but not collectively of late." [25a0] The second team put up a gutsy performance against Southgate Adelaide II but despite scoring 212 their injury ravaged team lost by 27 runs.

Phil Carter elected to field and soon rued his decision as Adelaide put on 130 for the first wicket, aided by two relatively easy chances that were spilt and a seemingly nailed on LBW shout that was turned down.

However, Town's bowling was far too ordinary and the visitors were able to declare on 238 for five.

Town then collapsed to 38 for three before Alan Armitage (42) and Jamie Cotton (46) combined for an excellent partnership of 103 but just as they appeared to have the upper hand wickets fell at crucial times. ..