NORTH Middlesex were dragged back into a relegation dogfight on Saturday after suffering a six-wicket defeat away to Stanmore.

The loss leaves Jacob Miltz’s side hovering two points above the drop zone with just two games remaining in the Middlesex County Cricket League.

North Midd wrap up their home campaign this weekend when they welcome mid-table Shepherd’s Bush to their Park Road ground in Crouch End.

But if they’re going to secure the much-needed win that their Premier Division status rests on, they are going to have to find a lot more answers with the bat than they managed at Stanmore Common.

The visitors actually made a bright start on Saturday as they recovered from Taine Bayly’s early dismissal to lay down a solid foundation.

Fellow opener Tristan Payle averaged more than a run a ball for his 39 off 32 deliveries, while Alex McDonald was North Midd’s standout batter as he top-scored with a fluent 70.

A good innings, though, often demands mid-order reinforce­ment when the pressure is on, but Stanmore’s Siddharth­sinh Parmar and Akshay Hirani never allowed that to happen. Hirani ended the afternoon boasting four wickets at the expense of 46 runs, with Parmar taking 3-30.

Angus Beattie’s unbeaten 22 at the tail helped North Midd reach a more competitive 211 before they were bowled out after 44 overs.

In reply, Stanmore never really let their opponents back into the match. Saahil Vora and Aaryan Sawant scored 37 and 29 respectively in a brisk opening stand.

Stanmore raced beyond 50 before Sawant was caught by Ben Lockrose off Bayly’s testing delivery, while Vora was caught by Payle off Rory Walter’s bowling to leave the home side sitting on 98-2.

Eyebrows were slightly raised when it quickly became 98-3; Givon Christian’s promising innings ended for 18 after he was trapped lbw by Lockrose.

But any hope of a North Midd fightback was snuffed out by a commanding stand between Daniel O’Driscoll and captain Grant Reingold.

O’Driscoll went on to post an unbeaten 65, while Reingold made a forceful 40 off 56 balls as Stanmore reached their winning total of 215-4 inside 34 overs.

Meanwhile, in Division One, Hampstead kept their faint promotion hopes alive with a nail-biting four-run victory over Wycombe House.

Opting to bat first on home soil, Jordan Edy got Hampstead off to the perfect start with his knock of 84, forging a solid partnership with Alex Duguid, who went on to score 47.

Oyishik Chakraborty and Aniket Parikh also batted well for their respective scores of 56 and 35 as Hampstead posted a whopping total of 315-9 from their allotted 45 overs.

But Wycombe House didn’t shy away from the challenge, and were just as impressive with the bat. Rohail Imman thwacked an unbeaten 99, while Arjun Saud also showed good shot-selection for his 84.

With Waqas Hussain chipping in with 63 runs, the visitors got within a whisker of reaching their target, ending play on 311-7.