HEREFORDSHIRE suffered an embarrassing defeat when they were crushed by 255 runs against Northumberland at Jesmond in the second of their NCCA 50-over competition group games.

It was a day which saw records tumble and not in a way that Herefordshire might have wanted.

It was the county’s heaviest ever defeat in a 50-over match; Northumberland skipper Stuart Poynter’s innings of 171 was the highest recorded against Herefordshire in a limited overs match; Poynter’s stand of 231 with Ben Robinson (88) was a competition record for the fifth wicket and Callum Fletcher’s figures of 6-19 were the second best ever recorded against Herefordshire in a 50-over match.

Yet, early in each innings things had shown promise for the county side. Skipper Ben Chapman Lilley won the toss and invited the home side to bat first on an overcast morning with Adam Hines (2-81), James Rudge (1-82) and debutant Cameron Jones (1-59) all picking up wickets as Northumberland subsided to 88-4.

After that, however, Poynter and Robinson took full toll of the Herefordshire attack, with Poynter lashing 18 fours and nine sixes in his superb 120-ball innings while Robinson looked almost pedestrian by comparison as his 88 spanned 90 balls with 10 fours and two sixes.

It was left to Roshan Venkataraman to establish some respectability late in the innings as he dismissed both of the top-scorers to finish with a creditable return of 3-56 from his 10 overs as Nortumberland finished on 369-7.

Although Herefordshire lost Chapman Lilley for a duck in the first over, Barney Morgan (32) and Olly Cox (40) moved the score on nicely as they shared a stand of 64 for the second wicket in even time.

However, after both were dismissed by Fletcher, only Ollie Rogoff (12) reached double figures as the last nine wickets went down for a paltry 49 on a still excellent batting pitch.

Herefordshire will be hoping for a much better performance when they entertain Lincolnshire at Brockhampton on Sunday, starting at 11am.