GALE AND CHAPMAN ENSURE BAR WIN AT A CANTER

Bar completed their 5th win of the season and are now 25 points clear of 5th placed Radlett as they completed a second comfortable win over a relegation looking Letchworth at the weekend.

Bar won the toss and opted to bowl first on a another regulation dry, slow pitch which would assist the spin bowling element massively. This was to be the case as the hosts got off to a steady start with openers Will Aitenhead and Tom Simmons, the latter looking far more fluent. The pair eased to 50, however in truth they played and missed more than the ball was going to the fence.

Bar got a breakthrough as Luke Chapman bowled Tom Simmons for a nice 35 and then the Max Pipe show entered the arena. He was soon blasting the ball to all parts in his usual fashion as he struck 4 boundaries and a pretty impressive maximum as the hosts passed 100. However he went for one shot too many as he hit the ball out towards long on. It looked a regulation take for Teddy Duke, however he mis-judged it and ended up taking it one handed over his head. Some would say you jammy so and so, some bravo young man.

103 for 2 was soon 107 for 4 as James Scott had Will Aitkenhead leg before for 32 and Tim Graham caught and bowled in his first over. Letchworth crabbed up to 122 for 4 off 35 overs at lunch and with Bar having a long batting line-up, they would have needed to have doubled that score at least to stand a chance.

Bar continued to chip away after the break. Bridge and Denman both went in successive overs as Luke Chapman was repeating his exploits from his last game against Totteridge Millhillians. A defiant partnership between Harris and Randall got the hosts past 180 but three wickets in quick fashion was the hosts dismissed for 199. The spinners dominated as expected, with Luke Chapman taking 5 for 45, James Scott 3 for 34 and Thilan Walallawita 1 for 54 and in the process overtook Dan Pascoe to be the clubs 3rd leading wicket taker in ECB League cricket.

So 200 to win in 58 overs and a lively opening spell from both Praveen Bhatti and Jonny Harris kept Bar honest and got a deserved reward as Harrison Palmer slashed to second slip, where Will Aitkenhead took it like he was shelling peas. 11 for 1 saw Charlie Scott enter the innings and he and Steve Gale effectively batted Letchworth into submission. Scott's dismissive pull off one short ball too many from Harris saw the end of his pace efforts was a fine way to settle down and play one of his best innings thus far in his short PBCC career.

Steve Gale looked in imperious form as he eased to his 4th fifty of the season as both he and Charlie Scott's batting took the game away from the hosts in double quick time. Tea arrived and Bar were sat 121 for 1, the pair having put on 110 needing just 79 to win in 32 overs.

The pair were heading towards the record PBCC 2nd wicket partnership of 160 but just 3 runs shy of it, Charlie Scott meekly chipped to extra cover and went for 64 his highest PBCC score from 97 balls. As the win neared Steve Gale (109*) scored his second hundred of the season in 124 balls hitting 16 boundaries. He has now scored over 500 runs at an average of 87.

Three Kamran Younas boundaries took Bar to within 3 of a win but he was bowled by Tim Graham for 17 and it was left to Pat Scott to blast the ball through midwicket for the match winning boundary.

Bar are now in 4th place, in the playoff shake-up and have two games against Radlett and Bishop's Stortford before the limited over cricket returns in three weeks. With the T20 Regional Finals on the horizon as well, The Walk is a good place to be at the moment snd long may it continue.