Radlett all set for new season
 |
| Title hopes: Radlett skipper Shane Burger |
Radlett CC get their Home Counties Premier League Division One campaign up and running this weekend.
The club host High Wycombe at Cobden Hill on Saturday.
They then turn their attention to the prestigious Evening Standard Trophy on Sunday, when Shenfield are the visitors.
Radlett go into the campaign with high hopes. Though last season was their first back in the top flight, the first XI performed admirably and remained in the title hunt throughout, eventually finishing in third place.
High Wycombe were just one place behind them in the final table.
Great things are expected of 18-year-old opening batsman Kabir Toor, an England under-17 player.
He has also landed a two-year contract with Middlesex CCC, following his young player of the year award at Lord's last season.
Fellow Radlett player Gareth Berg has also become a full-time professional at Middlesex.
There are two top-class arrivals in Paul Barker, the Hertfordshire left-armer, and Atul Sachdeva, a former England under-19 leg-spinner, which will give captain Shane Burger much optimism for the coming months.
However, Radlett have suffered the disappointment of not signing Hertfordshire batsman Steve Cordingley, due to an engineering contract in the United Arab Emirates. They will also lose county colleague Steve Lowe, when he moves abroad halfway through the season. The former South Africa A left-hander Haydn Smith is taking a sabbatical from cricket.
Last year, Burger, Berg and Browne formed perhaps the most dangerous seam attack in the league, taking 89 wickets between them at a paltry cost.
Meanwhile, the club's other teams have already started their Saracens Hertfordshire League campaigns.
The second team gained a draw with Watford Town in Division Two, while the thirds went down by five wickets at the hands of Northampton Exiles in Division Four.
* Richard Hardy thought he had scored 99 not out after clouting a full toss for Radlett IV's winning boundary against Preston II in Division Six at Cobden Hill on Saturday.
But an honest fielder informed the umpire afterwards that the ball had carried for six.
The two extra runs brought up a deserved century for Hardy, his reward for a magnificent effort against the odds in pursuit of Preston's 182-6 on a drying pitch. It was the club's first league century of the 2008/9 campaign.
Victory came with nine balls to spare, after Radlett's pursuit had stumbled to 133-7.
Radlett CC warmly welcome any prospective players, umpires, scorers and tea ladies. Club training is on Tuesday evenings at Cobden Hill. Contact Charles Randall on 07770 382127.
8:42am Thursday 8th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
