AND THE NEW HERTS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS....POTTERS BAR CC

Potters Bar made it 6 straight wins with a tight, nervy and frankly fantastic game of cricket which ensures that they are the Champions of the Saracens Herts Cricket League.

Radlett came into the game as League winners, Bar one defeat in 15 matches and a real winner takes all game. Both came into the game at full strength and in good form but Bar perhaps had a slight upper hand having beaten Radlett 3 times on the bounce in their previous three meetings.

Steve Gale won the toss and batted first on a fine cricket wicket, that ensured a good contest between bat and ball.

Bar took the game to Radlett with some positive stroke play, but Steve Gale snicked to slip for 9 and a first wicket of the day. Pat Scott played some fine shots but on 40 perished as he slapped a long hop straight down deep midwickets' throat and when Adil Zareef enticed Rehan Hassan to be stumped for 26, Bar were 106 for 3 and in a touch of trouble.

Step forward Rishi Patel who batted beautifully and eased to his fourth half century of the season and got Bar back into defendable position. Bar lost both James 22 and Charlie Scott 13 run out and with overs running out lost Rishi Patel for a fine 79 as he was well taken in the deep and at 221 for 6 with 4 overs left a total of 250 looked attainable.

The loss of Rishi Patel brought Thilan Walallawita to the wicket and he was to lead a brutal assault in the final four overs. He cleared the ropes three times, one of them a head high tennis swat over mid-on that sailed off into the great blue yonder. He struck 6 boundaries and finished unbeaten on 48 in just sixteen balls. His stand of 59 with Ashane Wijesuriya who finished unbeaten on a far from sluggish 29 from just 22 balls, carried Bar up to an imposing 280, leaving league winners Radlett with it all to do.

Radlett went for broke and opted with Adil Zareef who top edged his first ball for four. Next ball he was leg before and the large army of Bar followers found their voices. Radlett bat deep and Kabir Toor joined the excellent Josh de Caires and they slowly started to form the response. Bar's bowling and fielding was tight and Radlett struggled to get away.

The pair were celebrating a 50 partnership in 72 balls as the chase was starting to look on but akin to the Bar innings, wickets were lost at a regular occurrence. Toor went for 28 as he picked out deep midwicket. This brought Joe Cooke to the wicket and he struggled to impose his batting on Bar and was frustrated out for just 15 as he held out to long off as he was casually taken by Thilan Walallawita.

Again the score mimicked Bar's at 103 for 3, with Radlett still needing 178 to win in 150 balls. Josh de Caires completed a fine 50 in 69 balls and he and Fraser Crawford batted nicely and although overs were ticking by they were never that far behind the DLS target.

Both Crawford and de Caires completed a 50 partnership in 58 balls and Crawford completed a fine 50 in 48 balls as the league winners started to gather some momentum and put Bar under pressure. However this Bar team are made of sterner stuff and the big wicket of de Caires arrived as Thilan Walallawita held one back a touch and the talented teenager chipped to extra cover where Steve Gale took the catch. Two balls later, Chris Arul was run out by Steve Gale and Radlett were struggling at 170 for 5, still needing 110 and with just over 11 overs left.

Crawford carried on but he went caught at deep extra cover off the bowling of Teddy Duke for 61 and when Tom Jenkins was bowled by the 17 year old, Bar looked well set with Radlett 211 for 7 needing an unlikely 70 from 43 balls. Will Wright went for just 5 as Radlett were reduced to 236 for 8, needing 45 off 22 balls.

However Radlett didn't win 14 games out of 18 in 2019 through luck. Randeep Sanghera came to the wicket, showed buckets of ticker and technique and unleashed his assault as he cleared the boundary three times and hit 5 fours as the target had reduced from 33 off 3 to just 9 off the last over. His 50 came in just 27 balls and he was on strike for the last over, to be bowled by Thilan Walallawita.

The Bar all-rounder delivered the first ball and bowled Sanghera for 52 and Radlett were 272 for 9, needing 8 off 5. Just two singles ensued off the next three balls, leaving the target 7 off 2. Thilan delivered the ball to Thapar who missed the ball and was smartly stumped by Ashane Wijesuriya and Bar had done it, Champions of Hertfordshire Cricket by the small margin of just 6 runs.

Bar's Man of the Match was Thilan Walallawita whose 48 in 16 balls, 3 for 53 and 2 catches was almost boys own stuff.

For Radlett, fair play to them as they were worthy league winners but came up short on the day. Rightly or wrongly, Bar are crowned Champions and 6 straight wins, 1 defeat in 16 league matches and having defeated Radlett 3 times in a season is probably justified or at least a decent argument for a few beers in the bar.

So the season has come to a successful ending and in skipper Steve Gale's first season as skipper. A real team effort and a thoroughly enjoyable 2019 campaign comes to an end with a big cup to show for it and they head into 2020 hoping to better this years efforts but at the same time they will rightly be a big scalp for the rest of the division to beat.