Playing their first game against Berkhamsted CC, on what is claimed to be one of the most beautiful grounds in the country. Although spoilt on this occasion by cold cloudy and damp conditions. Grace's recorded their second win of the season.
Sent in to bat by the home side, Grace's got off to a brisk start but lost Whitmore for 22 with the score on 30. Runs continued to flow at a good rate until Mendis was caught at the wicket for 16 with the score on 66. A further four wickets then fell for the addition of only 10 runs, including that of opener Henderson for a well played 20. Skipper Hardisty and Shofiq then added a brisk 59 before both departed to injudicious strokes with the tail following all too quickly, with Grace's unable to use their allotted 40 overs. A score of 137 looked far from enough.
Again Grace's got off to a good start with Bielby getting opener Machon for a duck and Shofiq bowling their number three also for a duck. However opener Buckley was made of sterner stuff and with some fine straight drives went on to make 34 before falling lbw to Shofiq. An agreement between the captains that there should be no limit on the number of overs per bowler meant that skipper Hardisty was able to keep Shofiq on and his pace and accuracy worried all of the batsmen. In this he was well supported by Akhter and these two bowled for the rest of the innings, taking wickets and restricting the scoring and despite a determined attempt Berkhamsted couldn't quite make it, finishing on 129-9, Grace's winning by eight runs. Akhter finishing with 2-53 from 13 overs and Shofiq 6-48 off 20 overs to add to his 37 runs scored off just 25 deliveries.