NORTH Middlesex’s respite from the relegation zone only lasted a week after they suffered a morale-crushing nine-wicket home defeat against Crouch End on Saturday.

Jacob Miltz’s side stepped out at their Park Road ground in buoyant mood, having climbed off the bottom of the table when they beat Hornsey in their previous outing to end a five-week wait for a win. But they couldn’t have faced a much tougher fixture than their title-chasing neighbours, with Crouch End eyeing top spot in the Premier Division of the Middlesex County League.

Having won the toss and opted to bat first, North Midd quickly discovered the pressure was as suffocating as the weather. The visitors started knocking off wickets with such ferocity that North Midd opener Evan Flowers was part of five different partnerships despite only scoring 18 runs.

Fellow opener Will Frais managed four runs, Miltz and Mohammed Rizvi hit just one run each, while David Winn found himself walking back to the changing rooms after one delivery as he was out for a golden duck.

The second half of North Midd’s batting order didn’t fare much better, with only James Parslow offering any real resistance in a stand of 34. In the end, the home side was bowled out for their lowest total of the season so far as they posted just 82 runs off 33.4 overs.

Crouch End recorded some impressive bowling stats, with Jack Dry taking 3-16 and Rahul Hashu taking 3-18.

It didn’t take Crouch End long to whittle down the runs, with Dhaval Narotam smashing an unbeaten 40 off 65 balls in a rapid knock that included four fours and a six, while William Burridge hit seven fours in his 36 not out as the league leaders reached 85-1 inside 19 overs.

The tough games keep on coming for North Midd, who go to fourth-placed Finchley this weekend.

Meanwhile, in Division One, Amogh Karpe led the charge as Hampstead recorded an impressive 122-run victory over North London.

Karpe top-scored with 55, while Lauchie Johns and Vedant Thakur also both batted well for respective knocks of 37 and 29. With Alex Duguid also hitting 25, and Oyishik Chakraborty and Mubasher Hassan chipping in with 22 runs each, Hampstead managed to put 214 runs on the scoreboard before they were dismissed in the 43rd over.

Spinner Aniket Parikh helped ensure that total was enough to take the points as he took 4-23, while Lachie Bailey collected 3-38 as North London were bowled out for 92.