NORTH Middlesex climbed to third in the Premier Division table after making light work of their trip to Twickenham on Saturday in the Middlesex County Cricket League.

The home side might have been regretting their decision to ask North Midd to bowl first after Harry Meehan tore through their top-order on his way to claiming four wickets for just 33 runs.

Joel Hughes (3-20) and Will Vanderspar (3-19) also picked up three wickets each as Twickenham were dismissed in the 40th over for 83 runs.

North Midd needed just 17 overs to reach their winning tally. Jacob Miltz top-scored for the visitors with an unbeaten 38 off 39 balls following a rapid knock that included seven fours. That came after openers Alex MacQueen and Divyanshu Bhartiya had posted scores of 13 and 15 runs respectively.

With Jack Hartigan chipping in with 10 not out, North Midd sailed to 84-3 to seal a seven-wicket win – setting them up nicely for this Saturday’s test against league leaders Stanmore.

Elsewhere, Hampstead remain eighth in a 10-team table after taking a point from their match away to Crouch End. The hosts put in a strong showing with the bat as they scored 302-9 from 63 overs. Dhaval Narotam led the charge with 71, while Sachin Patel (59 runs) and Natim Hassam (51) also brought up half-centuries.

Kieran McComb was the pick of the Hampstead bowlers as he recorded figures of 3-90, while Ben Frazer (2-86) and Steve McGiffin (2-33) also claimed a couple of scalps each.

In reply, the visitors found runs a little harder to come by, with Frazer top-scoring for Hampstead with 45 not out.

In the end Mubasher Hassan’s side managed to see out their 60 overs on 189-6 to earn a hard-fought draw.

Hampstead will be hoping that home advantage can steer them towards a win this weekend when they welcome Shepherd’s Bush to Lymington Road.