Rain proved the nemesis of both Welwyn Garden City and Potters Bar cricket clubs for the second week running.

The two Herts League clubs were scheduled to play each other in two matches this weekend and although they did get some play in, both matches were eventually washed out.

The two first-teams met in a Premier Division clash at Digswell Park with both feeling they held the upper hand when the final persistent rain came.

It was certainly set-up for a thrilling finish. Having lost the toss and been put into bat, openers Steve Gale and Patrick Scott gave Bar a great start, putting on 75 before the former was caught by Owais Shah off the bowling of Simon Bridgewater for 22.

But Scott, Reece Hussain and Miguel Machado kept the momentum with the visitors and Bar were on 195 before Welwyn finally got their claws into the game.

Scott had departed for 70, Machado hit 35 in 28 balls and Hussain was done on 54 and the final wickets fell leaving them on 232.

Mo Rizvi and the seam of Tom Whitton bowled well in tandem and both ended up with four wickets each, Whitton claiming 4-31 and Rizvi 4-38. Bridgewater ended on 2-49.

But if the momentum had swung back towards the hosts at the end of the innings, the first 22 deliveries of the reply saw Potters Bar rip it back towards them.

They had Welwyn reeling at 7-3. A superb one-handed catch by Luke Chapman off the bowling of Jigar Mehta accounted for Louis Champion and James Scott's second over saw Rizvi and Matthew Hill both trapped leg before.

Owais Shah and skipper Dan Blacktopp had started to repair the early damage with a 45-run partnership when the rain swept in for the final time.

The club's second strings also met in a Division Two B contest at The Walk.

Welwyn batted first in that one and were all out for 168. Andrew Lovell got 53 but it needed a late flourish from the tail to lift them from 94-6 to their final total.

For Bar, the star bowlers were Sakuntha Premarathne (3-23) and Adityan Sembia (3-29), with 2-25 from Luke Owers, but they never got the chance to chase the total as the game was called off before a bat was raised in anger.