​North Enfield 1stXI completed an incredible win on Saturday, at home against 3rd placed Eversholt. Captain Kieran Jones won the toss and chose to bowl first on what looked a very flat wicket. His bowlers responded well to the task with both Derrick Sanders and the superb Abdul Vahid Khan(2-21-15) taking an early wicket each to reduce the visitors to 12-2 from 4 overs. Eversholt number 3 James Garratt(50) batted well and along with Kalim Khan(15) recovered to 49 from 21 overs before Khan was caught well at slip by Tom Coughlin off the bowling of Kieran jones(3-42-13). Garratt built a 45 run partnership with Wajid Khan(17) before Tom Coughlan(3-29-7) had Garratt caught at mid off with the score on 94 in the 34th over. 2 more wickets followed quickly to leave Eversholt 95-6 from 37 overs. But then, Luke Singleton fought back well hitting 37 from 38 balls and Zardad Khan hit 26 to power Eversholt to 180 from 53 overs.
 
This gave North Enfield 47 overs to chase down the target and they started well with openers Sam Pitcher(12) and Zach Brown(32) putting on 31 for the first wicket. Pitcher fell in the 12th over bringing Tom Coughlin(19) to the crease they batted well together before brown was bowled by Ricky Holmes with the score on 55. Captain Jones then fell cheaply for 4, quickly followed by Coughlin. North Enfield found themselves 67-4 from 24 overs with Chris Gillman and Ramon Baker at the crease. These 2 put together a 25 run partnership before Gillman was removed for 8. This brought Steve Gillmore to the crease who knocked the ball around nicely trying to keep the powerful Baker on strike. Baker was bowled by one that kept low for 35 in the 38th over. At this point North Enfield needed 52 from 48 balls a task made harder when Gillmore was run out for 11 and soon after Sanders was bowled for 7. With 42 needed from 32 balls Abdul Vahid Khan strode to the crease, he dismissed his first delivery for 4 and never looked back from there. Batting sensibly to keep the strike and running well with Alexander Crick, Khan was smashing the ball to all parts and by the time Crick was run out with 7 balls remaining, the score was on 178 and Khan saw North Enfield over the line with 5 balls to spare. The win takes North Enfield up to 5th place in the incredibly tight division 2b. Next Saturday they play bottom placed Hemel Hempstead town at home.
 
North Enfield 2nd XI earned a hard fought draw away against Abbotts Langley 2nd XI. Abbots Langley won the toss and batted first scoring 217-7 declared after 52 overs. Steve Maskell was the pick of the bowlers taking 4 wickets in his 15 overs Jack Conningsby took a spectacular catch off the bowling of Darren Atkins.
Their reply started badly losing both openers cheaply with just 20 on the board but then a stand of 90 between Faizel Patel(67) and Richard White(39) steadied the ship. The rest of the batsmen all made contributions with Steve Maskell hitting 13 from the last over to secure maximum bating points. The draw leaves North Enfield in 9th with 4 games to play, against the 4 teams nearest to them.
 

​NECC 1stXI earned a combative draw against 2nd placed Bishops Stortford 2ndXI. Batting first the home side used all 53 overs to reach 254-6. Their innings got off to a shaky start with opening bowler Derrick Sanders(4-83) removing opener S Felstead for a 13 ball duck. But from there Stortford rebuilt well and safe in the knowledge that they had plenty of batting to come, played their shots throughout. North Enfield looked to wrestle back a bit of control, taking 2 wickets in quick succession reducing the home side to 65-3 after 17 overs, but once again Stortford played their way out of a hole, targeting the shorter boundary. Sanders returned to take 2 wickets, leaving the home side on 133-5, but this brought D Westwood to the crease who played a nice powerfull innings until Sanders bowled him for 47 form 58 balls.
 
Chasing down a total of 254 in 47 overs would always have been a tough ask, but it was made even harder when they were reduced to 38-3 after 9 overs. From that point the win was never on the cards and with some serious rebuilding to do to reach the runs required for batting bonus points, captain Kieran Jones(72 not out) and Andy Pearson(30) put on a watchful 76 run partnership. When Pearson was removed by A Palmer with the score on 130 in the 36th over Khalid Abubaker(11 not out) came to the crease and dutifully picked up where Pearson left off rotating the strike and together with jones saw the side to 179 from 47 overs. The draw leaves North Enfield in 8th place in the league with only 13 points separating 5 teams. They need a couple of good wins over the next few weeks to ensure they remain out of the relegation zone.
 
 
 
North Enfield 2nd XI slipped to a narrow defeat at home in division 6B against Eversholt 2ndXI. The Visitors won the toss and elected to bat first on what was to be a good batting wicket, reaching 222-2 before they declared after 46 overs. This sporting declaration set up a good game as North Enfield went about chasing the target down. A quick fire 50 from Darren Atkins promoted up the order to number 3 got North Enfield off to a good start and runs in the middle order from Garry Orton(35) and Mark Partridge helped the Home side towards the total. But Eversholts bowlers kept taking wickets at crucial times and eventually took the 10th wicket with just 2 balls to spare with the score on 181.
It was a much improved performance from the home side but they must turn these performances in to wins to ensure survival in the league.