Carl Diebtisch, 15, belied his youth to clinch a point for Hampstead (148-6), rebuffing the attack to finish unbeaten on 28 and restrict Acton (233) to a winning draw due to their faster run-rate. The point leaves Hampstead fifth, 10 points adrift of Bron

Carl Diebtisch, 15, belied his youth to clinch a point for Hampstead (148-6), rebuffing the attack to finish unbeaten on 28 and restrict Acton (233) to a winning draw due to their faster run-rate.

The point leaves Hampstead fifth, 10 points adrift of Brondesbury whose last match of the campaign is against relegation threatened Shepherd's Bush. Hampstead's chances of leap-frogging Brondesbury look slim though, as their last match of the season is against second-placed Teddington.

Hampstead won the toss and asked visiting Acton to bat. The decision appeared to be prudent when Acton were restricted to 67-4 after John Reeve (9) and Ken Huckle (15) were run out and Mark Harvey caught Donovan Fyfe (14) off Robert Tidey (1-6) and Zac Khan (1-72) bowled Yasir Mehmood (15).

But Acton refused to go down without a fight and Tom Forsdike (46) had taken them to 185 when he was the fifth man to go when caught by the in-form Brandon Buckley (4-57) off his own bowling.

Buckley proceeded to take three of the next four wickets, including top-scorer Matthew Reeve (88), before Hanish Patel (2-55) bowled last man Daniyal Ahmad in the 59th over.

Hampstead's reply got off to a solid start with opener Tidey (40) providing a solid foundation to the innings, but they were rocked by the departure of Buckley (8) lbw to John Reeve (3-45).

Hampstead failed to recover and had collapsed to 76-6 with only Patel (11) reaching double figures. Skipper Joe Cotterell got them back on track with and unbeaten 49, batting in partnership with the youthful Diebtisch.

Cotterell said: "Special mention should be given to Carl Diebtisch who finished unbeaten on 28, having batted for more than 20 overs to save the game.

"Carl, who is only 15, is a promising Colt but displayed great maturity and no little courage during his innings.