Panesar toils away but Flitwick cling on

The hosts batted first and were indebted to another splendid knock from Sachin Wagh as his 88 saved them from being 2-2 early on and then 49-5.

He was accompanied by 25 from Ravi Ravi and Nitin Parsooth (37) as Luton posted 176-7.

Indians then reduced Flitwick to 42-5, as Panesar took 1-19 from 12 overs, while Ravi Ravi claimed 2-9 and Wagh 2-12.

However, they couldn’t take the final four wickets, with Flitwick blocking out 41 overs to finish on 78-6.

The IIs maintained their promotion push in Division Three B with a draw against table-topping Totteridge Millhillians.

Three wickets from Zainul Abadeen and 2-24 from Suleiman Mohammed weren’t enough to stop Luton being set a large target of 227.

Mohammed then hit 38 with the bat as opener Jeremy Page scored 55, while Mohammed Ismael made 29 as Luton settled for a draw, reaching 201-8 from 47 overs.

The IIIs had Haroon Afridi and Waqar Arif to thank after they were bowled out for just 116 against Mill Hill, Shyam Katecha top scoring with 29 and Gagan Kashyap adding a late 21.

However, Afridi took 5-21 and Arif claimed 4-31 to rip through Mill Hill, dismissing them out for just 77.

In Division Eight B, Indians IVs lost by seven wickets to Harpenden IVs, as they posted 179, only to see their opponents reach 183-3.

The Beds County League clashes for Indians’ first and seconds were both abandoned due to bad weather, while the IIIs had to settle for 10 points against Flitwick IIs in Division Three.

Sukhmeet Singh took 3-39 as they restricted Flitwick to 158-6, but with Luton on a precarious 12-2, the rain came.

The IVs were awarded the points as Eggington Foresters IIs couldn’t raise a team in Division Five.