Unlike one week earlier, the penultimate weekend in the Herts Cricket League did see matches played - with some good performances to boot.
Preston were involved in a thriller at Hoddesdon in the Championship, a match that went right down to the final over.
The contest had swung back and forth between the two sides during its duration but it was Preston who held their nerve to claim the a one-run victory.
Hoddesdon won the toss and took the new ball but the Preston top order all came to the party with James Stevens making a well earned 61
Preston Skipper Jake George fell just before making another 50, out on 47, but it was Justin Powick who bolstered the innings with a decent 77 with the middle.
The lower order also chipped in with valuable runs as Preston reached 290-8 at the end of their full 50 overs.
The home side set about the chase but Preston made early in-roads taking the early wicket of Gagan Dissanayake for eight.
Oliver Arkinstall started to create problems with a sensible knock and would carry his bat to 126 not out.
However, Hoddesdon were losing wickets all round him until a dogged 41 from Johnny Munday saw them needing 10 off the last over.
They needed six off the final delivery but could only managed four to sit one run short of a tie.
All the Preston bowlers played their part but spinner Luke Marsden took the plaudits in a vital and miserly spell of 3-19 from his 10 overs.
Preston seconds were given a walkover win against Bayford & Hertford CC while the thirds had a decent victory against Radlett.
They elected to bat first and finished on a demanding 257-3 with 72 for skipper Nic Staddon and 86 for James Battersby.
The Preston bowlers soon got amongst the wickets and Radlett closed on 151.
The fourths came unstuck against their Hitchin counterparts who batted first and reached 225-6 off their 40 overs.
Stuart Gwinnett fell for 99, lbw to Preston's Andrew Riant who took 2-50.
Young Arundeep Natt managed 2-32. but a top score of just 26 from Craig Tennant left Preston 108 runs short, Peter Bell and Andy Beaton taking three wickets each for Hitchin.
After a washed out bank holiday Saturday, Preston did get some cricket played a day later with their annual six-a-side tournament.
A spokesman said: "It was a brilliant day and excellent to see many of the club in attendance and generously supported by club sponsors Future Automation and Anglian Country Inns."
Back in the Championship, already relegated Letchworth lost by 59 runs at Broxbourne, Liam Bishton taking three wickets and Sajjad Homyoon hitting 66, while Stevenage confirmed their Division Two A status with a 58-run success at Langleybury.
Kawalpreet Singh top scored with 48 before taking 2-38. Mike Philpotts got 3-20.
In Division One, Hitchin got a mammoth 112-run success at home to Abbots Langley to keep their promotion hopes live going into the final week.
They now play second-placed Luton Town & Indians while Redbourn, the other side in the mix, go to champions elect Reed.
Depending on that result, victory for Hitchin could see them finish second.
This game was won by a superb all-round display after being inserted by the visitors to Lucas Lane.
They got to 249 before they were all out, Toqeer Hussain top scoring on 70 while there was an eight-wicket partnership of 62 between Sam Rippington (32) and Luke Day (38).
And then Hitchin ripped though the Abbots line-up, Shaftab Khalid the pick of the bowlers with 3-26 alongside two wickets for Day and James Tilbury.
Knebworth Park lost by four wickets away to Rickmansworth in Division Two B
Louis Champion (23) and Haydon Bartlett-Tasker (59) gave them a solid start but from there they crumbled and finished on 132.
And despite 3-36 from Charlie Randall and Gareth Jones's 2-28, the home side eased to victory in 37 overs.
Datchworth have very faint hopes of promotion from Division Three A but will finish third at the very least.
They are 28 points behind second-placed Bushey after a 11-run victory away to Potton Town.
They made 208 batting first and bowled the home side out for 197 after 45.4 overs.
Ickleford will hope to finish fourth but to do so they will need to beat Datchworth.
Their game on Saturday ended in a one-wicket loss at home to Totteridge Millhillians.
Batting first Ickleford saw five batsmen exceed 20 but fail to make a half-century - George Crouch (23), Axel Morris (32), Eswar Krishnamurthy (33), Eden Scott (26) and Charlie Jupp (30*).
It did get them to 214-8 at the close of their innings, although a mini collapse that saw four wickets fall for 16 runs prevented them reaching 250 that had seemed so likely, and also proved hugely influential.
Morris took the first 5 wickets to fall for 58 but the other seamers went at five an over and Totteridge were always just ahead of the game getting home by one wicket.
Nadeem Akhtar turned in a fine all round performance as Ickleford seconds secured a vital win against Stevenage thirds In what was a virtual 60 point game.
He opened the batting and made 32 runs as Ickleford struggled to 129. The only support of note came from Richard Brown (22) and James Dermont (20).
However, 6-30 meant Stevenage were bundled out for 102 to leave Ickleford safe from relegation.
The challenging season for the thirds continued with a defeat at fourth placed Welwyn Garden City.
After winning the toss and electing to field with only 10 players following illness, Ickleford reduced the home side to 62-5 but on a fast-scoring ground, WGC continued to play their shots and reached 215-9 in their 40 overs.
James Kench was the outstanding bowler with 3-18 and was backed up by Scott Dalrymple's 2-43.
There was one wicket apiece for Will Moore, Leo Chan and Mark Howard while mention must also be made of an outstanding caught and bowled by Dalrymple.
In reply, Ickleford’s batting again was below par and wickets fell steadily with only Ben Whelan (44) delaying up the inevitable outcome.
At 48-5, Whelan and Dalrymple put on 52 for the sixth wicket but off-spinner Vine (4-33) went through the middle order and Ickleford were bowled out for 155 in the 32nd over to lose by 100 runs.
The Sunday team produced an incredible victory from the jaws of defeat to beat Markyate.
Louie Hobbs was Ickleford’s star bowler with 6-32 as Markyate made 156 but they made a poor start with the bat and seemed certain to lose when Charlie Jupp went in with seven wickets down.
However, with 100 runs needed, the skipper hit a stunning unbeaten 90 to steer Ickleford home by one wicket.
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