and leads Herts to victory over Suffolk.....
Herts opener Alex Palmer scored a magnificent 143 not out to guide the hosts to a convincing 178 run victory over Suffolk in their latest ECB Royal London U14 County Cup league match.
On a beautiful Sunday morning at St George's school in Harpenden Herts captain Alex Portas won the Toss and elected to have a bat.
Herts lost opener Will Darraugh in the second over when he edged the ball to first slip. Conor Yorath joined Palmer at the crease and they put on 130 runs for the second wicket. Palmer was cautious playing his shots early in the innings but gradually grew in confidence and stroked the ball to all corners of the boundary on a very fast outfield.
Yorath was out for 73 and Angus Laws-Mather continued the big hitting knocking up a quick fire 48 before stepping across his wicket and being bowled around his legs.
Palmer reached his 100 off 156 balls to a huge applause from both sets of supporters and went on to score his highest knock for the county.
The hosts had amassed a huge score of 334 for 3 by the close of their innings and had all but batted Suffolk out of the game by tea.
Suffolk soon fell behind the required run rate of 7.42 per over and were eventually all out for 178 with the Herts bowlers sharing the visitors wickets.
The victory moves Herts up to second place in Group 4 of the ECB competition.
Malcolm Kiely
Herts U14 Manager