North Enfield fell to their second defeat following promotion after losing 96 runs to St Albans in Herts Division Two B.

St Albans, batting first made 237 all out, a total that could easily have been more if not for a very good last ten overs from North Enfield with Derrick Sanders returning for a much improved second spell to take five for 28 from five overs.

He finished with figures of six for 51 from ten overs.

Dropped catches proved very expensive as St Albans; middle order built towards a good total with former Surrey player Murtaza Hussain’s powerful 62 and former Zimbabwean international Mbekezeli Mabuza’s classy run a ball 57.

North Enfield’s reply got off to a bad start losing captain Kieron Jones without scoring early on in the innings.

With St Albans bowling very disciplined lines and taking wickets at regular intervals North Enfield’s batsmen found scoring hard and after a 50-run partnership between Chris Gillman (40) and Ramon Baker (six) they found themselves behind the run rate and were bowled out for 143.

The side will look to get their first win of the season this weekend when they take on Cockfosters.

In Division Six B, North Enfield Seconds slumped to a 132-run defeat at Bovingdon.

Set 291 to win, the side were bowled out for 158.