Saracens Herts League Division Five Knebworth 3rds 170-10 Bayford & Hertford 142-10 USMAN Chaudhary took a devastating hat-trick in his five-wicket haul as Knebworth Park 3rd XI keep up their promotion hopes in Division Five. Chaudhary came on as third

Saracens Herts League Division Five

Knebworth 3rds 170-10 Bayford & Hertford 142-10

USMAN Chaudhary took a devastating hat-trick in his five-wicket haul as Knebworth Park 3rd XI keep up their promotion hopes in Division Five.

Chaudhary came on as third change after Park started with the old ball against Bayford & Hertford.

Veterans Graham Fisher and Sandy Reynolds opened up and Fisher's only wicket of the day was the prized scalp, with ex-Park player Ben Wilson leaving his crease only for Matt Wallis to snatch off his bails.

From there the wickets fell at a steady rate with Jack Thorn and Michael Fisher coming on with the new ball and getting one apiece.

Then Usman took charge. When Thorn was removed from the attack, there was a steady partnership building with Bayford opener Ketteridge the aggressor.

Usman decided that this partnership wasn't going to end Knebworth's hopes and he claimed three wickets in three balls to leave Bayford struggling on 104-6.

He went on to get rid of Ketteridge and Bayford's only other batsman to stay at the crease to end their hope of the win, or even the draw. Usman finished with 5-18.

Skipper Steve Holmes then replied to some nudging and brought himself on to claim the final two wickets in his one over to give Knebworth a deserved 30 points.

Earlier on in the day, Knebworth had started positively with youngsters Michael Carter and Hayden Bartlett-Tasker setting a good base before the rain break came.

Carter misjudged a pull shot after the stoppage, only to watch the ball go under his bat and bowl him.

Bartlett-Tasker and Ian Pickering struggled to find runs until Tasker was stumped.

This sparked a mini collapse but Pickering scraped 39 runs, leaving Park with five overs left to push the total to a competitive score.

Father and son, Graham and Michael Fisher, added runs on at the death, finishing on 36 and 10 respectively.

Park were bowled out with two balls to spare with a competitive total of 170.

The win leaves Knebworth in sixth place but closes the gap on the teams above them and moves them further away from the teams below as they chase Division Four cricket next season.