Chesterfords’ entertained Ashdon on Saturday in a local derby game that they needed to win to give them any chance of avoiding relegation from Division 2 of the Lords Herts & Essex Cricket League.

Chesterfords’ lost the toss and were put into bat on a very green uneven wicket. Chesterfords’ were put under real pressure by P. Salt and D. Hall who both bowled with accuracy and pace. P.Salt was a particular handful and the uneven bounce that the pitch generated made it almost impossible to bat on. James Pullen was the first Chesterfords’ batsmen to lose his wicket after he chased a bouncer that caught a thick top edge off of Salt that was caught by mid on. Steve Atherton was batting resolutely and looked in no real trouble until Salt managed to bowl a superb ball that nipped back in off of the seam just flicking the top of his off stump. Salt continued to bowl superbly and finished with figures of 3 for 21. Once the threat of Salt was gone Chesterfords’ started to take control of the game. David Perring looked at his very best with the bat, punishing any era in line or length by the bowlers. Wazz Mughal batted aggressively as always and scored a quick fire 22 J Lipscombe went for 7 after some good work from S.Salt taking the outside edge of the bat and being caught by the scampering P.Roberts behind the stumps. It was Perring however that dominated the Ashdon bowling attack scoring a sublime 82 with elegantly struck drives and ruthless shot selection. David Lightning also batted well lower down the order scoring a much needed 48 with some glorious sweep shots and deft cuts. Chesterfords’ reached 216 for 7 off of their 45 overs.

In reply Chesterfords’ got back into their bad habits by gifting early runs to the opposition. Some wayward bowling allowed the Ashdon score to move quickly onto 42. Mughal taking the early wicket of G Ford with a hard bouncer into the ribs that David Perring caught spectacularly at square leg. The dangerous M. Furze came to the crease and soon got into his rhythm. However at the other end J Pullen took the wicket of S Salt, which was swiftly followed by a superb run out by Perring taking the wicket of D. Hall after some poor calling. Chesterfords’ were well on top but they still needed the important wicket of M Furze.  Salt came to the crease and between him and Furze they put on a stand worth 81 that left Chesterfords’ feeling that they had let the game slip through their fingers.

Tim Lewis came onto bowl and managed to produce the match defining moment. He bowled an intelligent slower ball that Furze could only miss hit finding Tom Thake at deep mid off who held his nerve to take the catch. At 174 for 5 with the danger man gone, Chesterfords’ were right back in it. Steve Atherton ( 3 for 33 ) bowled with intelligence and guile as he mystified Ashdon’s lower order batsmen. With 17 runs needed for an Ashdon victory and only 1 wicket remaining Atherton bowled a quicker ball that T Bartram stepped across his crease to defend, only to see it cannon into his pads. The finger went up and the celebrations began led by the onlooking 'Magners girls'.