Thilan Walallawita was the star as Potters Bar beat Bishop's Stortford by 82 runs to remain second in the Saracens Herts Premier League.

Luke Chapman chose to bat and saw James Scott (14) and Anmol Mahesham (23) make a good start, only to fall in quick succession to leave Bar 44-2.

Reece Hussain (25) fell to a superb return catch by Ben Twohig with the total on 89, with Charlie Scott (31) edging to slip and Walallawita stumped to leave Bar 122-5.

But Esam Rahman (35) and captain Chapman (40) shared a run-a-ball 50 stand either side of lunch, before three wickets fell in 26 balls to make it 187-8.

Teddy Duke scored a first-team best 27 in a 47-run stand with Jigar Mehta as Bar reached 234, but the visitors raced to 75-1 in 15 overs in reply, led by Australian Jake Carder.

However, Walallawita struck with his third ball and again two balls later as Stortford reached tea on 102-3, with Carder on 53.

And another wicket fell to Walallawita eight balls after the restart, with the Middlesex spinner claiming another scalp soon after to finish with 4-32 from 12 overs.

Chapman (2-36) enticed Carder down the pitch to be stumped by Callum Baylis for 57, then trapped opposite number Tom Burslem as a fourth wicket fell for six runs in 20 balls to make it 114-7.

Maheshram (3-7) mopped up the tail as Bar bagged 30 points and made it 10 unbeaten in the extended format ahead of a derby at Welwyn Garden City on Saturday.

WGC were left annoyed and disappointed after a 58-run loss at bottom club Hertford last weekend.

Some unfortunate decisions, sloppy bowling and fielding, and the lack of a match winning contribution from one of their main batters, all contributed to their defeat at Balls Park.

And the win sees Hertford close the gap that was opening up at the bottom of the table, and leaves Welwyn in seventh place, only nine points above them.

Unbeaten Radlett lead the table, one point above Potters Bar, with Totteridge a further two points behind in third.

Playing on probably the hottest day of the year so far, home captain Ben Cowell won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first on a green flat wicket that looked perfect for batting.

Dan Orchard took his first WGC league wicket, dismissing former colleague Bailey Eustance for 14 with a very sharp return catch off his own bowling, but it was to take a further 20 overs before the visitors got their second wicket.

Hugh Cavener fell lbw to Jack Clayton for an 81-ball 73, having put on exactly 100 with Will Ray for the second wicket.

And Ray was involved in another century stand with Richard Leather, who was stumped by Andrew Lovell off Clayton.

That left Ray heading towards his third century against WGC but an arrowlike throw from the outfield by Fayaz Homyoon, and sharp work by Clayton, saw the home batsman run out 11 short of three figures, leaving Hertford 252-5 with five overs left.

Once again, WGC were looking to chase a score [293] that was considerably more than would have been if half chances had stuck, with Clayton (2-86) the pick of the bowling with his 20-over spell.

Homyoon and Dylan Van der Westhuizen opened the innings needing to score at a rate of 5.3 runs per over but having taken the total to 37 off six overs, both openers were out in quick succession.

Eustace took a return catch to dismiss Homyoon for a run-a-ball 19 and van der Westhuizen was run out by the same bowler seven balls later, after a mix-up, to leave WGC 44-2.

Clayton and Radha Marripati continued their good batting form to repair the innings, with an 88-ball partnership of 71 to keep up with the run rate.

But Clayton was caught by Wlison off Eustance for 39, Marripati was caught behind by Cowell off Flynn Ruskin for 61 when well set and skipper Alex Chalker was given out caught behind for just one.

Although Lovell made 36, Orchard 13 and Ed Tucker a 40-ball 30 in trying to stave off defeat, with Thomas Whitton absent, WGC were finally all out for 234 in the 51st over.

Eustance (5-78) did most damage in his 20-over spell and WGC will have to rediscover some form as they start a run of three difficult matches.

After hosting Potters Bar at Digswell Park on Saturday, they visit fifth-placed North Mymms and then entertain leaders Radlett.