GOSPORT Borough remain on the shirt
tails of Southern Electric Premier
League, Division 3 pace makers Hartley
Wintney and Portsmouth after a convincing
eight-wicket win over newly promoted
Fareham & Crofton at Bath Lane.
It was the first time the near neighbours
had ever met in a competitive
match - and Gosport emerged easy
winners against a Fareham side that
has yet to win this season.
Ironically Fareham, who won the
Hampshire League title in some style
last summer, were well placed at one
stage - until seamer Richard Edwards
(4-13) joined the Borough attack.
But a lively opening cameo by Luke
Gould (30), aided by Richard Webb (20)
and a crisp knock from South African
Armand Strydom (26), came to nothing
as Fareham's middle-order fell apart.
They lost four wickets without scoring
a solitary run, slumping from a
promising 87-2 to 87-6 in the space of
five minutes.
Edwards, bowling gentle away swing,
nipped out three wickets in a single
over - his seventh and the 24th of
Fareham's innings - as out-of-touch
Fareham disintegrated.
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Queensland Under-19 all-rounder
Chris Lynn (2-17), bowling in tandem
with Edwards proved equally effective.
Fareham's teenage tail tried its best,
but a disappointing 114 was never likely
to prevent a fifth successive Gosport
win.
It was the second successive week
Fareham's batting had collapsed - and
skipper Bob Marchant will demand
compulsory squad training on
Thursday evening.
Mike Rees (42) hit the first ball of the
Borough innings to the boundary and
with Lynn hitting an undefeated 53,
Gosport coasted to an eight-wicket win
with more than half their overs to
spare.
Table topping Hartley Wintney cruised
to a seven-wicket win at Hursley Park,
while Portsmouth won at a canter,
crushing Trojans by an eight-wicket
margin.
Matt Palmer (39) and Rory Miller (31)
made steady progress for Hursley Park,
but a prosperous 67-0 soon became 84-
5 after a run out and a three-wicket
breakthrough by Andy Bull (3-36).
Will Evans (41) and Andy Marks (25)
rallied in middle-order, but left-arm
spinner Jack Cockram (2-26) and Matt
Digweed (2-37) ensured Hursley didn't
progress beyond 178.
Hartley Wintney were seldom in any
difficulty with Bull (53) and Darren
McBride (51 not out) hitting half-centuries
in the seven-wicket win.
Portsmouth have yet to concede a
batting point to any of their five opponents
and once Trojans fell to 15-4
there was little doubt about the eventual
outcome at Stoneham Lane.
Keith Adams (4-29) and Sajid Ali (2-
11) caused all the new ball problems
before Mark Oakden (22) and Nigel le
Bas (19) launched a partial recovery.
All Trojans could manage was 108
(James Scott 2-28) - a total Portsmouth
gleefully polished off after Matt Scott
(54) had struck 28 runs off Tim
Felstead's second over.
Sparsholt ran up an impressive 264-7
before rolling basement boys Totton &
Eling II out for 104 at Southern
Gardens.
Alistair Birkett (63) and Andy Clarke
(68) top scored in a solid top order batting
performance as Sparsholt put the
game well beyond Totton's reach.
Richard Aitken took 5-27, including
the first three Totton wickets, before
the side was dismissed for 104.
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