South Hampstead suffer another bout of travel sickness in defeat at Brentham

South Hampstead suffered another bout of travel sickness on Saturday as an eight-wicket defeat at Brentham maintained their record of losing every game away from home so far this season.

In the build-up to the match, captain Leroy Shepherd had urged his side to improve their batting displays on the road – but SH were bowled out for 90 by the league leaders, who easily reached the target with just two wickets down.

Rizwan Mohammed (10) departed early on, while Felix Walker followed for a duck – and when Nish Patel (8) was dismissed, the visitors were 27-3.

Tim Marcon (22) and Karthik Jagannathan (7) put on 29 together but SH then lost three wickets for one run, and tail-ender Touqeer Ahmad (13) was one of only three batsmen to get into double figures.

When Brentham replied, Ashwin Kapoor struck an unbeaten 54 to extend the pacesetters’ lead at the top to 10 points, while South Hampstead dropped one place to fourth.

Meanwhile, North London opener Milo Jennings held firm with an unbeaten half-century before his side’s game against Uxbridge was abandoned due to the weather.

Jennings notched 67 not out from 108 balls, while Simon Mintoft (30) also batted well as NL reached 95-2.

But Shakil Ahmed (4-34) initiated a middle-order collapse and Andy Stephens (2-17) then tightened the screw. North London were 130-7 when the heavens opened and the game was ended in the 37th over.

Elsewhere, rain also put paid to Hornsey’s hopes of unseating Division Two leaders Finchley, with Saturday’s clash between the sides abandoned after 32 overs, at a point where Finchley were 91-5.