NORTH Middlesex made light work of their match against Stanmore on Saturday as they stormed to a six-wicket home win in the Premier Division of the Middlesex County Cricket League.
Opting to start in the field, Jacob Miltz’s side wasted little time getting amongst the wickets with Will Vanderspar removing openers Andrew Whaits, for two runs, and Travis Norris, for 24. With Joel Hughes bowling Daniel O’Driscoll out for 20 in between, the visitors soon found themselves reeling on 61-3.
Vanderspar continued his solid start to the season as he finished the afternoon with four wickets to his name at the expense of just 47 runs.
And with clubmate Jarren Bacher proving equally as devastating with the ball in hand – a late rally seeing the spin bowler end with figures of 4-26 – Stanmore were made to work hard for the 201 runs they managed to post before being dismissed in the 65th over.
North Midd initially made a shaky start to their chase with openers Will Frais, eight runs, and James Parslow, five, coming and going without significantly denting the scoreboard. But Evan Flowers steadied the ship with a well-crafted 34, before Joe Cracknell arrived at the crease to smash an unbeaten 97 off 73 balls in a rapid knock that included 13 fours and three sixes.
With Vanderspar proving just as composed with the bat as he was with the ball to add 52 not out, North Midd reached their winning tally of 205-4 in 37 overs.
The victory leaves the title-chasers third in the table, level on points with Crouch End and just five points behind leaders Shepherd’s Bush.
North Midd will be confident that they can continue their winning run this weekend when they travel to Hornsey.
Meanwhile in Division One, Hampstead find themselves 13 points clear at the top following their convincing home win over Wycombe House on Saturday.
Damien Burrage (4-32) picked up a four-wicket haul at Lymington Road in West Hampstead as the visitors were bowled out for 163 in the 49th over.
Will Roberts (2-21) and Ajit Sambhi (2-25) also both performed well to each take a couple of scalps.
It didn’t prove too testing a target for the league leaders, largely thanks to Joe Kendall who scored almost a run a ball as he hit 57 off 56.
With opener Rafay Ahmed and Sumeet Sharma adding 21 and 20 runs respectively, Hampstead successfully completed their chase in the 36th over, closing play on 164-6 to earn a four-wicket win and maximum points.
Hampstead are on the road this weekend when they take their title charge to Shepherds Cot to face third-place North London in what promises to be an enthralling contest.
