Louth's splendid century can't save Bucks CCC from friendly defeat

Conrad Louth

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A splendid century from Conrad Louth could not prevent Bucks suffering a four-wicket defeat by Hertfordshire in a high-scoring 50-over friendly match at High Wycombe on Saturday.

Louth made 110 as Bucks rattled up 307-9 from 50 overs in fast-scoring conditions but Hertfordshire got home with just two balls to spare in an exciting finish. Playing on his home ground after Bucks chose to bat first, Louth struck three sixes and 11 fours in his 110 which came off 111 balls.

He and Wycombe clubmate Eliot Callis, whose 64 came off 82 balls shared a second-wicket stand of 74, while the pace of the innings was upped by Shelvin Gumbs whose 32 came of 22 balls.

At the time, Bucks's score seemed no better than par, and so it proved, as Hertfordshire were always ahead of the rate thanks to a superb 153 from opener Dominic Chatfield, who hit eight sixes and nine-fours in his 137-ball stay which only ended with victory in sight. Spinner Michael Payne was Bucks's most successful bowler with 3-55.

The teams meet again in another friendly 50-over match at Amersham this Sunday, starting at 11am. These friendlies were arranged to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the National Counties T20 competition due to the Covid-19 restrictions. Herts were unable to find a suitable venue for the second game, but Amersham came to the rescue.

Scores in brief: Bucks 307-9 (50 overs, C Louth 110, E Callis 64 S Gumbs 32 M Rizvi 3-34) Herts 309-6 (49.4 overs, D Chatfield 153, A Ahmed 61, S Rizvi 34, R Hussain 25, M Payne 3-55).