Sparsholt’s first team faced Langley Manor in the fourth week of the season. Langley won the toss and put Sparsholt in to bat which looked to be a good decision after taking three wickets in quick session; however, Sparsholt captain Jeremy Frith lead the fightback with some solid defence before being bowled for 31. However, Stuart Tognarelli and Tom Foster took the game to Langley with some counter attacking batting scoring 41 and 40 respectively. The bottom order gained Sparsholt their third batting point, meaning that they finished on a par 183-9.

Sparsholt came out to field with great intensity and opening bowlers David Banks and Mike Haworth both swung the ball and were rewarded for their efforts in the opening spell, with Banks taking 4 wickets and Haworth taking 2 at the at the other end, the home side were reduced to 30-5. Spinners Nick Doubell and Jeremy Firth continued to apply the pressure on Langley’s middle order with Frith taking the key wicket of Noble.  Some sharp keeping from Jake Dunford gave Doubell 3 wickets as Langley were all out of 86 giving Sparsholt a 20-point win.

Sparsholt third team finally started their season as they travelled to Holybourne with senior debuts for junior players Elliot Colyer and Harry Worth. Captain Andy Worth won the toss and elected to field. Both debutants opened the bowling with good spells against the experienced Holybourne openers. The introduction of Andy Pryce into the attack brought the first wicket clean bowling Maddock for 46. George Ellis then had the next batsman caught behind by Stuart Barlow with the score at 77 for 2. Pryce 3 for 24 and Ellis 2 for 44 reduced Holybourne to 107 for 5. James Lander was introduced to the attack with his tidy off spin and clean bowled Seeckts. Colyer returned to take a well-deserved wicket with a fine spell of 10 overs 1 for 32 on debut. Andy Steggall replaced Lander and took two quick wickets as Holybourne were dismissed for 162.

Sparsholt’s reply started with an unfortunate run out of James Lander with the score on 14, Tim Lander and Andy Steggall took the score 60 before Lander (15) was bowled by J Carter. Adam Gough followed bowled for 8. Andy Worth joined Steggall and hit a couple of boundaries before top edging one to mid-wicket with the score on 97. The experienced Andy Pryce (24 not out) then joined Steggall and the two chased down the runs with 3 overs to spare with Stegall finishing with a fine 75 not out of 133 balls with 6 fours and 1 six. A great winning start for the threes.

Sparsholt faced Paultons in the semi-final of the Hampshire stage of the National Village Knock Out competition. Sparsholt won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch which looked as if it would offer a lot to the spinners in the second innings. A fast start saw a number of boundaries in the first few overs before Paultons made their first break through. Frith continued his fine form with another highly disciplined innings, with his favoured sweep shot proving to be a productive one for him before he was finally dismissed late on for 87.

Tom Foster picked up where he left off from his Saturday performance with another attacking 40 which gave Sparsholt momentum going into the late stage of the innings. David Banks scored 56 in quick time as the home side pushed for a big first innings total. Sparsholt amounted 245-6 off of their 40 overs after some later order hitting from Chris Mitchell who hit 20 from just 6 balls.

Paultons came out attacking however this was short lived as after a few lusty blows the opening partnership was broken by Nick Doubell. Spin was proving to be effective on a turning wicket and tight spells of bowling from spinners Jeremy Frith, Mark Stone and Nick Doubell never let Paultons back in the game as they finished on 187-8 from their 40 overs. This means that Sparsholt continue their run of form and will look to take this form into the Hampshire final in a fortnights time against Liphook & Ripsley CC.

This week – Sparsholt’s first team welcome OT’s & Romsey to the Norman Edwards Ground, our second team travel to Basingstoke & Northants CC and the third team will be hosting their first game of the season against Herriard at North Walls 2.