Potters Bar kept up their chase of the top four in the Saracens Herts League Premier Division with a convincing 82-run win at Luton Town & Indians.

Captain Steve Gale chose to bat first on a blisteringly hot day, despite being without the services of talented young Essex batsman Rishi Patel.

And his side produced a solid, if unspectacular effort at the crease to post a competitive 226.

Charlie Scott opened with Gale and would go on to hit a fine 65 from 131 balls, including seven fours.

Scott put on 63 with Rehan Hassan (34) and sahred another 67 runs with Patrick Scott (36), only for Bar to lose three wickets for just two runs.

Thilan Walallawita hit a six and four fours in his 26-ball 33 to help lift the total to 226, which Bar hoped would be enough to put pressure on the home side.

And although Luton Town got off to a good start through their opening pair of Fayaz Homyoon (38) and Akash Shah, who put on 53 with few alarms, the introduction of left-armer Walallawita turned the game.

After removing Shah, he got rid of dangerous overseas star Murtaza Shabbir Trunkwalla, as the home side began to wobble.

With the sun starting to bake the Wardown Park surface, only former Bar player Zawar Hussain (30) showed any resistance to the accuracy of the visiting attack.

Veteran Paul McGee (2-14) nabbed a brace to move to 250 ECB League wickets in Potters Bar colours, while Teddy Duke returned to dismiss the dogged Daniel Gould for some reward of his own.

And Walallawita (5-27) completed his fourth five-wicket haul for Bar with just 15 minutes left to seal victory and keep them in the play-off shake-up.

After a third win in four on the road, Bar return to their base on Saturday to welcome leaders Radlett, who have won their last two matches by 10-wicket margins.

The seconds beat Harpenden thirds by eight wickets after dismissing them for 103, but the thirds slipped to a 73-run loss at Allenburys & County Hall seconds, who posted 206-7.

The fourths made it six wins on the trot with an eight-wicket success against Knebworth Park, who were held to 134-8.

Chandra (78 not out) and Pratoosh (31 not out) combined with the bat to chase the target in 17 overs as Bar moved into the top two.