HEREFORDSHIRE under-14s fell to a narrow defeat at Cardiff & Vale despite a valiant effort which saw skipper Oliver Langford hit a century.

After being put into bat a steady start left Herefordshire on 30-2 after 10 over.

This brought skipper Langford to the crease, who, combined with opener Gatherer looked to steady the quick loss of two wickets.

Runs flowed for Langford with relative ease.

He was joined by number five Harry Butler, who worked with Langford to push the team past both the 125 and 175 mark, with both players scoring all around the wicket.

Butler was caught at point after 37 runs.

This left Langford to work with the rest of the order to get to his maiden county 100, which he achieved off a free hit with a single.

He was then bowled a few overs later for a very well made 112.

After a few quick singles and some boundaries at the end of the innings, capitalising on some miss fields, Herefordshire managed to achieve 234-5 off their 40 overs, a score which was to produce a very tense chase.

Cardiff’s chase got off to a good start, with both openers combining to get the team to 40-0 off their first ten.

Small partnerships built with Cardiff’s middle order, the introduction of off-spinner Harry Butler and Monty Kennerley, with two wickets each, stemmed the flow of runs.

However, Cardiff eventually met the run rate and looked to be heading to a comfortable victory.

However the introduction of leg-spinner Joe Pugh saw their opener removed for a fine 74.

After consistent pressure and a very strong fielding performance Cardiff were set 12 to win off the final over and scampered to victory on the penultimate ball.