FRAGILE batting was again to blame as King’s Road slumped to another shocking defeat in Hertfordshire.

The Orange Caps were chasing a modest 150 to win in 40 overs after bowling out the South West Herts XI in their traditional season finale.

But after looking set to stroll to victory thanks to Mark Isham’s patient 45, King’s Road somehow contrived to throw it away by collapsing to  a miserable 124 all out.

From a steady 78 for 2 the Orange Caps lost 8 wickets for just 46 runs to be bowled out with 4 overs to spare, and just 26 short.

After being put out in the field, opening bowler Kevin Pittaway had got The Road off to the perfect start by knocking out Byrrell’s middle stump.

Captain Matt Cocken then got in on the act grabbing two wickets in two balls to leave the South West Herts rocking on 21 for 3.

Leon Watson caught the first at mid on, and Matt pouched the second off his own bowling to set up the hat-trick ball.

With the score on 48, the impressive Shailesh Joshi grabbed the first of his three as wickets fell at regular intervals.

Mark Isham and Leon picked up a wicket each as both bowled tight spells and Chris Beckett, Dan Sherman and Amir Alipour also got a whirl.

Opener Richard Peralta then returned to finish the innings getting the key wicket of Man of the Match Matthew Bristow – who with a untroubled 65 offered the only resistance – and Webster-Smith.

South West Herts had been dealt with – bowled out for 149 well inside 40 overs. Now all The Road had to do was calmly chase down their total and claim a second win in a row.

But could they? No. Of course not.

Mark and Kev opened and when Kev departed with the score on 15 and David Hughes fell for a 6-ball duck The Road were still very confident their batting line-up could deliver the goods.

Click here to see the match scorecard

On a perfect pitch but painfully slow outfield, Mark was the anchor in a steady partnership with Leon as the pair took the score to 78. But then all hell let loose.

A mix-up in the middle saw Leon run out for 19.

The big-hitter Giles Fagan crashed a four and then got bowled. Amir lasted two balls and mainstay Mark – The Road’s best hope of success – got a beauty with the score still on 94.

Matt then scratched around before being bowled for 3 and Chris got another stunner from Bristow. Suddenly The Road found themselves staring down the barrel.

At 8 down with overs in hand, batsmen in and just 43 to get the Orange Caps still had a very good chance of winning. In a late salvo, Shailesh smacked a six and two fours to give them genuine hope.

But the all-rounder couldn’t quite force it, falling for a quickfire 20 off 14 balls to leave Dan S and Rich as the last wicket pair with it all to do.

Dan hit a boundary but – with Bristow bowling brilliantly – Rich fell to give the spinner his fourth wicket in 6 overs.

It was a disappointing capitulation by The Road. But with good all-round performances from Mark and Shailesh, plus Matt’s two wicket burst and Rich’s scalps there were still positives to take home from Hertfordshire.

The match was due to be The Road’s last this season and would have been a disappointing end to it.

However, another match is planned to take place on Saturday, September 11 if enough players can be found.