AMERICAN success in putting a man on the moon in July, 1969, might have persuaded the Radlett committee that they could try exploring the brave new world of league cricket after avoiding it for two years.
The decision was made to join the Herts Competition in time for 1970, a hotch-potch of 34 clubs with league positions decided on average points. By no means did all clubs play each other, and several played each other twice. This was the year that South Africa was suspended from the ICC for the apartheid policies, and the following year the first one-day international was played between Australia and England at Melbourne.
Radlett finished only 17th in the Herts Competition in 1970. It was quite a good season overall, as 18 matches were won, with the captain David Taylor, Keith Jenkin, Charlie Randall, Dougal Cowper and Geoff Dawson scoring seven centuries between them. At Cockfosters five runs were needed to win off the last ball, and Taylor drove a six clean out of the ground towards the tube station for a marvellous victory.
Buckhurst Hill were beaten comfortably in a sun-drenched all-day club match at Cobden Hill after Ivor Golby had bowled almost 40 overs unchanged on a perfect pitch. The tall seamer seemed to mesmerise the batsmen with his accuracy and, after two stunning early catches by Randall at close gully, run-scoring simply dried up. The Essex visitors were dismissed for about 140, Golby finishing with 39.5-26-58-6, and Radlett knocked off the runs rapidly, led by a fuming Arnie Hubbard. Randall scored 500-plus runs in August.