There was not much to shout about for the women’s first and second teams on Sunday at Lymington Road

Islington Gazette: Sally Dixon (left) was inaugural winner of the Hampstead Women's Cricket Club player of the day for her 65 against Bishops's Stortford (pic: Hampstead Women's Cricket Club/The Green Room).Sally Dixon (left) was inaugural winner of the Hampstead Women's Cricket Club player of the day for her 65 against Bishops's Stortford (pic: Hampstead Women's Cricket Club/The Green Room). (Image: Archant)

Hampstead travel to local rivals North Middlesex this weekend eager to return to winning ways in the Middlesex County League Premier Division.

Liam Hughes saw his team claim a winning draw at home to Shepherds Bush on Saturday, but they were disappointed come the end not to pick up a victory.

After dismissing the away side for 299 in the 66th over, the hosts finished on 282-9 off 58 overs, so had to settle for four points from the contest at Lymington Road.

Chris Beaumont-Dark picked up 4-17 from 15 overs while Scott Barlow (2-55) and Muhammad Ahmed (2-48) claimed two scalps each, but chairman Nick Brown was frustrated to see Bush not all out for less.

He said: “We’re disappointed not to have won this game and at 236-8, a total of 299 was probably 30 to 40 more than we would have expected Bush to get.

“It’s at times like this we miss having our extra pace bowlers around. Will Roberts in particular is very effective against the tail.

“Will being away did leave us effectively three seam bowlers down from full strength, with Steve Clark and Mubasher Hassan still injured. The guys that came in did really well, but Will was missed for sure.”

After Bush had set Hampstead 300 to win, the home side gave it a good go in reply and put on 66 for the first wicket with George Adair hitting a rapid 25.

Hassan continued his fine form with 87 and Sam Evison added 54 from four, but the next best score was 38 from both Matt Watson and Barlow, and it could only see Hughes’ team end up 18 runs off their final target.

“Chasing 300 is not easy in club cricket, but we gave it a good run and Mubasher and George gave us a good start,” said Brown,

“Sam Evison, Matt Watson and Scott Barlow all kept us in the hunt, but we seemed to keep losing wickets at exactly the wrong time, just as it felt we had tilted the game in our favour.

“In the end we had to settle for the draw, but it was another terrific game and Shepherds Bush are a competitive side that always play the game in a really good spirit and they’re always very welcome visitors to Hampstead.”

The Hampstead women’s team didn’t have much to shout about as the firsts XI lost by five wickets to Bishop’s Stortford on Sunday despite 65 by Sally Dixon during their total of 176-9 from 40 overs.

Sian Culley took 3-38 in reply for the hosts, but the away side got home in the 32nd over of the match.

The seconds also went down by five wickets against Chesham after they were all out for just 51.

Captain Gabie Clark picked up 2-10 from 10 overs during the visitors’ chase, but they were able to reach their target in the 20th over of the 30-over contest.