Published: 28 May, 2015
by STEVE BARNETT

ED Bird’s six-wicket haul against Southgate helped North Middlesex make it three wins out of three in the Premier Division of the Middlesex County Cricket League on Saturday. 

Sam Webber hit 62 off 46 balls, including nine fours and a six, while Will Nicoll fell one run short of a half-century as North Midd posted 211-7 off 38 overs in a rain-affected match. 

With the showers reducing the match to 38 overs-a-side, the Duckworth Lewis-adjusted total saw Southgate set 229 to win. The visitors recovered from a shaky start to put pressure on the North Midd fielders as they climbed to 144-3 thanks to Tom Edrich’s quick-fire 61 off 80 balls. 

But Webber (2-28) and Nicoll (1-35) destroyed Southgate’s momentum before Bird, who had earlier conceded 25 runs off his first two overs, returned with venom, taking the final six wickets as the visitors were bowled out for 196 in the 38th over. 

• Skipper Steve Clarke and Liam Hughes both posted half centuries as Hampstead followed up their win over Indian Gymkhana with a narrow 40-run victory away at Twickenham on Saturday. 

Clarke’s 58 off 106 balls and Hughes’s speedy 56 off 46 balls, along with 42 runs from Mubasher Hassan, saw the visitors finish their 50-over spell on 259-6. 

Hughes then capped a man-of-the-match display by taking 4-38 with the ball to restrict Twickenham to 219-9 from their 50 overs, earning Hampstead all 10 points and leaving them fourth in the table.