Berkhamsted proved too strong for a much-changed St Albans Cricket Club on Saturday as they inflicted a heavy 114-run defeat on their hosts at Clarence Park.

The home side came into the game on the back of a loss and had three debutants in the form of Harvey Scott, Oliver Coulman and Michael Martin among their number.

This new look side struggled to contain a Berko side who batted first and built a total of 233 from their 50 overs with the bat.

That total looked beyond Berko when no member of their top four managed to breach the 30 run barrier.

Alan Gofton (29) and Ian Bartholomew (24) were the most productive of the top order and it required the intervention of Mark Costin to get the scoreboard ticking over.

He top scored with 61 before tail ender Haydn Greener provided further frustration for the St Albans attack with an unbeaten 50.

Jacob Winfield (2-42), Simon White (2-43) and Richard O'Toole led the way for St Albans with the ball, while Matt Howeson (1-21) and Uttam Vijender (1-30) also struck.

St Albans were always facing a tough task to chase down Berko's sizeable total but looked to be in good shape when opener Coulman scored 40.

However, a lack of runs further down the order saw seven of the St Albans number dismissed for less than 10.

White was the only other batsmen to build up anything like a head of steam as he scored 24 in a run chase which ended inside 36 overs with the score on 119.

Brad Klosterman caused the most damage with the ball and finished the game with figures of 5-24.

St Albans will try to rediscover the form which saw them win three games on the spin when they take on Watford Town Firsts away from home in their next game.