Hampshire League - County Division 1

Flamingo (186 for 3) beat Eastleigh & Otterbourne (184 for 9) by 7 wickets

EASTLEIGH and Otterbourne were well beaten by local rivals Flamingo on Saturday, a virtuoso performance with bat and ball by Flams skipper Stuart Shapland the key to the outcome.

On a beautiful day Eastleigh won the toss and decided to bat first. From the very first ball it was apparent that runs were going to be hard to come by, with the low bounce shin high at best.

This meant that straight line and length bowling would be very difficult to score off, and in conditions alien to them Eastleigh and Otterbourne stumbled to 184 for 9 from their 48 overs.

The only Eastleigh batsman to remotely come to terms with the pitch was Steve Lockyer, who mixed patient defence with booming straight drives in an innings of 58.

Stuart Shapland exploited the conditions superbly, finishing with exemplary figures of 7 for 41, aided and abetted by the pitch and some poor shots.

In reply Flamingo sped to the target with almost ten overs to spare. The Eastleigh bowlers regularly served up a four-ball an over, which was punished regularly; Richard Wilson was the only E&O bowler to perform to anywhere near his best.

Opener Richard Manthorpe was fed his favourite off drive, which he played to great effect.

He remained unbeaten on 62, while Shapland finished the game in double-quick time with an innings of 58 - not a bad ending to the all rounder's dream of a day.