Northampton Exiles suffered a frustrating two-run defeat to St Albans Seconds in Herts Division Four B.

St Albans won the toss and elected to bat. Exiles got off to a good start with fine bowling from the opening pair Yasir Kayani (three for 55) and Yagnesh Patel (one for 28).

This was followed up by some accurate bowling from Rakesh Gogna (three for 34).

But a stand of 141 from the opposition partnership took them up to 227 for eight.

Exiles were going steadily with a stand of 54 from the openers Amit Naik (16) and Mike Bullard (67).

After a couple of wickets fell Bullard was accompanied by Darshan Naik (51) and helped Exiles get up to 144 with 18 overs to go.

But the side lost regular wickets which meant they required 16 from the penultimate over as they came up just short.

In Division Eight B, Northampton Exiles Seconds lost by three wickets to Sawbridgeworth Thirds.

Exiles got off to a solid start with Mark Chakravarti (26) and Nikesh Shah (19) putting on a 40-run partnership for the opening wicket. However the loss of Shah triggered a collapse as they were left on 90 for eight in the 24th over of the game.

Drupesh Patel (67 not out) with excellent support from Hubert James (25) boosted Exiles to 184 all out in 42 overs.

But the Exiles struggled to restrict the boundaries as Sawbridgeworth reached 120 for one in the 28th over.

Three wickets for Dhaval Patel gave Northampton Exiles brief hope but their opponents still had enough left to win the contest with three wickets in hand.