North London to welcome back full strength team for game against MTSSC

Bardon and several other first team players missed the loss against Southgate due to other commitments, with the team losing by 20 runs.

The captain was pleased to see others get the opportunity but now wants his team to kick on and climb up the Middlesex County Cricket League Division Three table.

"It's been a funny month. It will be good to get a full team together and get back to what we were doing before" he said.

"It's always a difficult place to go. It's another one where batting first is quite important as its important to get runs as soon as possible.

"The pitch tends to get quite low and slow. If you bat first and make the most of it, that is the best way to win.

"They are always competitive."

Southgate opted to bat first in Saturday's game and stand-in captain James Battock bowled Southgate's opening batsman Matt Stratten out for just one run thanks to a Orban Holdgate catch.

However, Michael Stevens and Jamie Jouning hit 34 and 70 respectively to help their team onto a total of 169 all out, despite Omkar Hushing taking six wickets.

North London started their batting slowly but Alan O'Shea, who normally captains the second team, rallied to reach 60 runs to put his side in with a chance.

A late effort from Ted Greally (18) and Freddie Issitt (35) made it close but North London failed to find the runs needed to complete the chase, finishing on 149 all out.

North London currently sit seventh in the table but with just five points separating them and third place Southgate, Bardon believes his side can push themselves up the league.

He added: "It seems like everyone is beating everyone so far.

"It was always going to be difficult against Southgate with the number of people unavailable.

"There isn't too much difference so a team that can put four or five results together stands a good chance of going up.

"It's a lot more competitive this year."