Amersham missed out on the chance to close the gap on leaders Kew at Sardeloes on Saturday through some poor batting and several costly dropped catches. Having elected to bat, Kew were soon in trouble on a difficult track against excellent opening spells from Holt and Garvey, and at 66-5 should have been dimissed for much less than their final total. Sensible batting from the middle order eventually saw them through to a respectable total after Ash (4-17) had wrapped up the innings, aided by some smart glovework by Langley who claimed 5 victims hehind the stumps.

In reply, Amersham started soundly against a good attack that was bizarrely deprived of one of the Kew openers who was somehow injured delivering a practise delivery. The key moment was still to follow when Matt Ash unfortunately top edged a delivery into his face when looking well set and had to leave the field for treatment - this sparked the loss of 3 further wickets in almost as many overs and from a position of dominance Amersham had managed to turn certain victory into likely defeat. The tail held out bravely, but when Ash was bowled first ball upon his return to the crease Kew had turned out deserved winners. There is still a lot of cricket to be played this season but Amersham must start to eradicate some of the mistakes that are costing them dearly thus far if promotion is to remain a realistic target.