London Maccabi Vale 1st XI opened their Chess Valley League campaign with a convincing eight-wicket success over Hemel Hempstead in a high-scoring contest at Rowley Lane.

A good spell with the new ball from Josh Frey put LMV in charge early on, but Hemel Hempstead staged an excellent recovery, with a big partnership taking them to 263-9 off their allotted 45 overs.

Andrew Greenwall-Cohen (3-36) was the star man with the ball for LMV, while Benjamin Lederman (3-34) came back to polish off the tail in an innings where only two batsmen reached double figures.

LMV openers Danny Caro and Joseph Greenwall-Cohen (32) made a strong start before Adam Brand (86) joined the in-form Caro at the crease and took the game away from Hemel Hempstead with an excellent partnership.

With victory within sight, Brand was caught in the deep and it was left to Jonathan Gould (32 not out) and Caro (89 not out) to steer LMV home with 11 balls to spare in a perfectly-timed run chase.