Shenley Village II 161-7 Waltham Cross Rosedale II 165-2 Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League Division Nine A gutsy performance but not good enough sums up this game for the second team.

With captain Affleck at the Euro championships, Chris Stanley took over the captaincy and mantle of trying to break the villagers' duck.

Losing the toss his side were put into bat and with a much changed side found themselves on the back foot three balls in with the loss of the usually reliable Lewis.

Promoted to number three, teenager Lloyd Willingham batted well with Barry Cashin, who had come in to play his first league game of the season and played some decent shots considering he hadn't played since the end of April.

Together, they took control of the bowling until one ball popped from the cracks in the pitch and the unfortunate Willingham departed caught at second slip, for a solid 20, with Shenley on 47 for 2.

Chris Stanley went in next and began to play steadily in backing up Cashin who went for another hefty shot but picked out a fielders midriff and was caught out for 36. Liam Willingham was next in and although he hit a boundary first ball he was finding edges and soon departed leaving the side on 66 for 4 off 24 overs.

In the middle next was Stubbs who watched his captain smash several impressive boundaries before he began hitting his own. Together, they were looking comfortable and eased the runs onto the scoreboard in boundaries and two's and Waltham changed their bowlers to stem the flow of runs.

It was Patel who made the breakthrough in his second over by having Stubbs c&b for 26 when looking to push on. His next victim was Manzi who was caught behind for one two overs later and Shenley were struggling then on 127 for 6.

Morgan Stanley joined his father in the middle and in trying to push the score along the stand in captain departed for a stubborn 40 runs, bizarrely stumped from the fast bowling of Patel by keeper Ronsley.

With overs running out the only other wicket to fall was of teenager Stanley for eight as Iqbal 14 not out and Wood four not out saw the village side complete their allotted 53 overs.

In reply, the bowling pairing of Wood and Lloyd Willingham, together with some excellent tight fielding, kept the opposition on the back foot and the pressure told as the two openers departed within two runs of each other both playing on to each of the bowlers with Waltham Cross on 22 for two.

Another father and son combination, this time for Waltham Cross saw all the hard work done by the Shenley second team evaporate.

Pearce Jnr (52) and Snr (74) went on the offensive with still an attacking field. Yet again another major stand had thwarted a Shenley breakthrough as the pair saw out the required runs in the 37th over and left the home side rock bottom of the table.

SHENLEY VILLAGE II :A Lewis, B Cashin, Ll Willingham, C Stanley, Li Willingham, D Stubbs, D Manzi, M Stanley, Z Iqbal, K Wood, S Elliott.