Hampshire put themselves right back in the promotion picture with a convincing home victory over County Durham.

Two sides will go up to the Inter County Premier League at the end of the season – and Hampshire currently occupy second place with two games left to play.

The women’s B side got them off to a winning start on day one against County Durham with a 4-2 victory. Joanne Senior, Sue Thompson, Nikki Stevens and Dawn Simmonds registered the opening wins.

The men’s B side looked as if they would increase the advantage but were pegged back to 6-6 with wins coming from Martin Stead, Graham Chalk, Chas Barstow, Steve Jannaway, Adam Lipscombe and Luke Getty.

Hampshire had a two-game lead overnight and they held on to that when the women’s A team drew 3-3 – successes from Pennie Lewis, Tara Power and Gemma Hayter.

But the home side pulled away in style when the men’s senior side toed the oche.

They won eight of the nine opening matches with victories from Sam Head, Brad Kirk, Paul Winter, Kev Ede, Mike Gillet, Andy Mitchell, Lee Ward and Nillson Pritchard.

Gary Stafford finished off with a win in the final game.

Best single dart average for the men was Martin Stead’s 30.06. Pennie Lewis’ 22.10 was the top ladies’ average.

Hampshire travel to third-from-bottom Surrey on April 25/26 and finish off their campaign with a home match against Staffordshire, who are two places off the basement, on May 30/31.