Potters Bar were frustrated by Hoddesdon in the Saracens Herts League Premier Division as they dropped to second in the table.

Put into bat on a good pitch, they saw Josh Matthews and James Seward negotiate some tight seam bowling to get to 50 from 110 balls.

Matthews was undone by a ball that spun sharply and hit the top of middle stump, but Rishi Patel looked in fine form after being left out of Leicestershire's tour match with India.

Seward fell for 35 and Reece Hussain was strangled down the legside without scoring to leave Bar 76-3, but Charlie Scott helped Patel see them to lunch at 106-3 from 34 overs.

The pair put on 50 in 57 balls, with Patel bringing up his half-century from 47 deliveries as both batters looked in imperious form.

As the overs ticked down, Bar's shots became more aerial and Patel holed out to deep square leg for 73.

James Scott was bowled for 14 and Scott fell for 79, his highest score for the first team, as Bar reached 264-8 and Kyle Wilson (3-45) finished as the pick of Hoddesdon's attack.

The hosts lost James Curtis cheaply, bowled by Jigar Mehta, but captain Rob Walters and Jayden Broodryk found the rope and scored at a steady rate to see them to 63-1 at tea.

Walters tried to hit Luke Chapman over mid-on five balls after the restart and saw Teddy Duke take a backpedalling catch, with Broodryk hitting a full toss to Thilan Walallawita at mid-off to leave them 97-3.

Todd Sturdy and Will Steward made batting look relatively easy as they upped the rate and Bar looked short on ideas, hitting seven boundaries in five overs and putting on 50 in 72 balls.

Needing 97 from a minimum of 17 overs in the last hour, with seven wickets in hand, a close finish seemed on the cards but an outstanding catch at slip by Patel saw Steward depart for a fine 40.

Rob Jones hit three nice boundaries to make it 199-4 in the 51st over, but Sturdy was trapped leg before for 51 and Jones fell two balls later to Walallawita.

And the total remained unchanged for 64 balls as Bar dismissed Burroughs and Cuffaro for dogged ducks to claim a winning draw.

Walallawita finished with 3-32 and Luke Chapman 3-54, after becoming only the third Bar player to reach the 150 mark since the ECB League inception.

Having taken 16 points, Bar will entertain current leaders Radlett this weekend.