Bar stormed an emphatic 10-wicket win over bottom club Shenley, to make it four red ball wins on the spin however the gap at the top remains the same.

At the ninth time of asking, Luke Chapman finally won a toss and asked the hosts to bat first on a seamers friendly pitch and Shenley were under the pump from ball one as Jigar Mehta got a ball crashing into Charles Thurston's stumps and Bar were off. There was then a humungous shout for leg before the very next ball when it looked pretty adjacent, however the conditions were ideal for both Jigar Mehta and Ashleigh Cox. Skipper Morgan Stanley went leg before and at 3 for 2 Bar were in a good place.

Scoring was tough as the ball was swinging around corners and the overhead conditions made batting as tough as it gets,but England Deaf cricketer, Umesh Valjee and Nish Selvakumar, both who played well in the first encounter got in behind it and nurdled it around.

Selvakumar went to a smart catch at short extra cover for 22 and Mo Rizvi came to the wicket, his first game in 2 months after shoulder surgery and, although leading a charmed life early on, slowly looked to nudge the scoreboard on a little. At 62 for 3 the hosts looked to have weathered the storm, however Callum Lloyd came on and trapped Umesh Valjee leg before for 22. He then got Will Thomson caught at midwicket for 0 and then bowled Suhaib Ahmad for 4 and the hosts were reduced to 66 for 6 and in deep trouble.

The lunchbreak arrived, I say lunchbreak, it was more of a stand around outside break as there was a wedding going on and for a Premier League game going on to feel like a second class citizen is a little naff.

There was more of the same as the pre break stuff as the scoring rate was a tough watch but Luke Chapman got the wicket of Mo Rizvi for 29 and when Thilan Walallawita got the deserved wickets of Stear and Nissen, the hosts were 9 down for 108.

To Shenley's credit, Aussie overseas man, Pat Dooley and Dhruv Sapra slapped the Bar attack about a bit and showed some intent and Bar looked a little shabby with the ball and in the field and probably gave them 40 more than they deserved - however the last wicket pair batted wonderfully well and put on 59 in 48 balls to close 168 for 9 with Dooley completing an unbeaten 54 and left the writer why on earth he was hiding down at number 8.

The wickets shared around; Callum Lloyd took the plaudits with 3 for 33, Thilan Walallawita 2 for 34, Jigar Mehta 2 for 42 and a wicket a peice for skipper Luke Chapman and Ashleigh Cox.

So 169 to win and Bar got off to a circumspect start with Steve Gale bless him struggled manfully to get off the mark. It came at the 25th time of asking to a loud cheer from all on the ground and that was in effect the only large period of pressure the hosts extracted on the Bar batters. Both James Seward and Steve Gale took no chances, put the bad ball away and saw it firstly through to tea at 60 for 0 off 20 overs and then accelerated past the 100, past the 150 and then onto the target score with ease. The target reached 116 balls remaining and the defeat could and probably should have been 40 runs less to chase but a wins a win.

The pair put on 169 in 216 balls with James Seward ending on 90* and Steve Gale 68* to hand Bar the 30 points and the hosts just 2.

Bar are starting to look like the team they have been for the last two years and its set to be a hell of a run in and next week sees 'Ladies Day' at the club and the visit of Old Owens, who sit next to bottom and the run of wins has to keep on to keep up with Harpenden to stand any chance of retaining the Hertfordshire Premier Cricket League trophy.

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