Saracens Herts League Division Eight Stevenage 3rds 278-5 Knebworth Park 4ths 217-8 STAND-IN skipper Bret Painter lost a crucial toss for Knebworth Park 4ths on Saturday but did the business with the bat to ensure a derby draw. Painter called incorrectly

Saracens Herts League Division Eight

Stevenage 3rds 278-5 Knebworth Park 4ths 217-8

STAND-IN skipper Bret Painter lost a crucial toss for Knebworth Park 4ths on Saturday but did the business with the bat to ensure a derby draw.

Painter called incorrectly and so his team were put in the field against a Stevenage 3rd XI that comprised of youth and experience, including one ex-Knebworth and Stevenage first teamer, Ian Brown.

The batsmen mercilessly set about acquiring a huge total, with the evergreen Brown missing his ton by just six runs.

The track and small, fast outfield were conducive to batting, where batsmen got full value for money from their shots and the home side racked up 278-5, declaring in the 51st over.

The pick of the bowlers were Gareth Jones with 3-61 and Pete Bayford, who took 1-67.

They were not helped by a number of dropped catches at crucial moments in the game.

The Stevenage innings flagged towards the end with the last 10 overs only going for 40 runs and the timing of the declaration would prove to be crucial.

Though the Park batsmen opened up with a good, solid 50 partnership between Christian Gugolz (34) and Mark Turner (26) and at a brisk pace, no-one was able to go on and capitalise on their starts to threaten the mammoth Stevenage total.

Painter had placed himself down the order to ensure that if the chase was on the quality was there to finish the job off.

Alternatively, he could bat to deny a victory for their local rivals, which happened to be the case this time around having hit an important 52 off 69 balls to take the score to 217-8.

That ensured Knebworth claimed full batting points and deprived Stevenage of their first win in this season's campaign.