A LOVELY spring day saw on field action for the first time this season at Marigolds as the First XI entertained St Albans CC from Herts Division One.

A six wicket defeat with 10 overs to spare doesn’t tell the tale of this game however with several factors to consider. Firstly, Harlow fielded a side without at least four key starters that included both club pro’s and skipper Jake Messenger whilst St Albans included the hugely talented and influential Jamie Regan in their ranks fresh from dropping down from playing regular Herts Prem level. It showed!!!

Regan made a huge difference, especially with bat in hand when he crafted his way superbly to 88 of just 63 balls breaking the back of a tricky run chase. 

Earlier, Harlow had been in desperate trouble at 26-4 primarily down to some superb catching as both Syed Hassan and Ben Yeats fell to stunning slip catches. 17 year old all rounder Abi Farooq and debutant Tom Garner firstly steadied the ship with some resolute defence but slowly but surely ticked along the scoring prior to some superb acceleration as both players scored all around the ground with ease. 

When Tom fell for 54 Abi continued to push the pace with the new look Andre Riddell (the one that bats to his ability – ticking over the scoring without giving it all away). Both played beautifully with Abi finishing on an unbeaten 76 and Andre 24* as we totalled 188-5 in 40 overs.

It was a welcome sight to see a genuine middle order recovery and as Abi, Tom and Dre dug us out of a hole and some. All three were especially aggressive against the spin on offer with the two visiting slow bowlers sharing an aggregate of 14 overs 0-96.

It should also be said that the St Albans seamers had bowled extremely well. Ben Ashead (3-10 off 7 was the pick) but Jamie Regan bowled as quickly as I’ve seen at Marigolds with balls passing past noses and over heads as he charged in. Credit to our batsmen to keep him wicketless.

Regan wasn’t to be denied with the bat though as he made light work of knocking off the 189 needed. He punished anything remotely too full or marginally short and raced to a half century before kicking on again. The hundred partnership was reached with his fellow opener having made just 13 such was his impact. 

Abi trapped him LBW for 88 and two balls later knocked over another but the game was already gone in truth although Abi and Ben Yeats added further wickets before the close.

None of the bowling figures looked that pretty but how much was down to the bowling was unclear with the quality of Jamie Regans’ innings. 

J. Riddell 0-32 (5), Brewster 0-25 (5), Quant 0-38 (5), Abi Farooq 3-34 (6), Matthews 0-29 (5) and Yeats 1-29 (3.3)

Apologies to the 2nd XI but I don’t have a score card or a huge amount of detail but skipper for the day Nathan McCarthy took 4 wickets and Ronnie Fuller made 50 with Oliver Allen adding 31. Nathan also informed me that regardless of the scorebook details Ben Searey was their best bowler on the day. The side were defeated but promising to hear that the headlines were made by 4 lads under the age of 20.