Sparsholt 1st 169 all out  V Paultons 1st  24-1 match abandoned 

As the 2018 season draws towards its conclusion; Paultonstravelled to Locks Lane to take on top of the table Sparsholt. To the surprise of his team captain Frith won the toss and elected to bat first. It was a controlled start from both sides with bowlers hitting good areas and both openers leaving the ball well. However, with the score on 30 Paultons struck the first blow dismissing Haworth LBW for 21. A flurry of wickets were to follow, with the home side losing two more wickets for just 11 runs, but with Frith still at the crease and Banks his new partner a period of stability returned to the innings, adding 47 before Frith was given out sweeping. Stuart Taylor and Banks shared another 40+ partnership as Sparsholt looked to position themselves for a dominant final 10 overs. As Sparsholt were just about to work through the gears but the rain began to fall which forced an early tea. Sparsholt looked to carry on from where they left off but clearly did not switch back on after the rain break as Paultonsapplied the pressure with tight bowling and fantastic fielding to take a succession of quick wickets to take the league leaders from 163-6 to 169 all out. 

After a quick turn around between innings Sparsholt knew they had to bowl and field exceptionally well to defend their under par total. This got off to a perfect start with banks making the initial breakthrough in the first over, beating the inside edge to clean bowl Pike for 0. Sparsholt struggled to make further inroads after this and the score slowly began to creep upwards ,unfortunately just as the game seemed to be working towards a thrilling conclusion, the rain began to fall once again, this time it was terminal with play not resuming and the match being abandoned.

Hursley Park III Vs Sparsholt 2nd XI

Saturday saw a local derby and top of the table clash for Sparsholt 2nds. With a number of players on the field who were ex team mates with Winchester KS there was always going to be some banter on the field which started before the game began.  Skeoch lost the toss and was inserted to bat by Hursley on an overcast day. Skeoch  batted with Foster and put on 24 for the first wicket before Skeoch fell for 6 closely followed Foster for 21. Mitchel was unlucky to get a ball that kept very low and was bowled  for 2 quickly followed by Proctor who was well caught by Wheeler at mid-wicket. With the score on 40 – 4 from 10 overs veterans Vaughan and Worth dug in and played some solid defensive shots on a variable wicket slowly accumulating runs before Worth made the fatal mistake of going back and was trapped LBW to Devitt. Vaughan fell in the next over for 19 well caught by the Hampshire veteran Wheeler. Whiting and Doubell moved the score on with some lusty blows putting on  partnership of 47 before Whiting was out for 16 with the score on 116. The introduction of ex Hurlsey  first team skipper Ollie Green ( formerly known as Boy band in his Winchester days) Proved difficult for the Sparsholt batsmen as he bowled Rowe for 2 and had Thornton caught for 5. Mark Stone joined Doubellwho went on to make 55 before being bowled  by Green as Sparsholt finished on 158. 

With rain falling and overs lost the target was reduced to 137 off 37 overs as Wheeler in his first innings of the season for Hursley came out to bat. Skeoch placed at attacking field with positions under Wheelers nose at point , extra cover, mid offand deep mid wicket.  Surviving a first ball LBW appeal Wheeler was advised to use his bat by his former teammate Worth at gully, reciprocating the advice given by Wheeler earlier. Wheeler duly obliged and was caught behind off his 3rdball for 0. Jones was caught in the next over off Tom Proctor for 0 leaving Hursley at 2 for 0. Parvar and Green batted cautiously and were well behind the required rate as the rain began again. Following another break and re calculation the target was reduced to 118 from 28 overs with bowling restrictions meaning the opening bowlers had bowled out. Green showed his class and punished the bad ball and took control of the game with Parvar  as the Sparsholt spinners struggled with the wet ball. Stone reverted to his medium pace and ended up in a heap on the wicket and had to be transported off by a large vehicle as Parvar fell for 41. Green  54 not out saw Hursley through to victory with support from Best 10 and Hammett 6. A good spirited game of local league  cricket enjoyed by a number of spectators.  

Sparsholt 3rds 169 all out Bishops Waltham 3rds 117- 8 

Sparsholt 3’s returned to North Walls after a week off and we’re looking to get their second win in a row there after not winning there previously for 2 years. The challenge was to beat Bishops Waltham who were in a great run of form chasing for promotion. Sparsholt lost the toss and was sent into bat on pitch with a fair bit of moisture in it from the rain the day before. The early wicket of Hartley (2) fell which brought Cornforth to the crease and built a partnership of 62 before Ellis was out for just 7 leaving Sparsholt on 65-2. Cornforth then fell for a well-earned 65 and Henderson (22) followed soon after.  The score got up to 151-4 with J Dodd (32) and Trivett (11) at the crease both falling looking to push on the score with 7 overs to go from this there was a small collapse from the Sparsholt team but Matthews (3*) and E Dodd (2*) both made sure Sparsholt batted the full 40 overs reaching a score of 163-9. 

Sparsholt opened with the same bowling attack in recent weeks which had proved very strong with E Dodd and Trivett. Triv picked up an early wicket in his 2nd over, putting them on 13-1 chances kept coming at both ends but kept falling short with Trivett bowling 3 maidens in a row .decided to take a break before bowling himself out to early leaving with figures at the point of 1-3 off 5 overs. E Dodd finished her spell of 6 overs going for 29 however this didn’t reflect on how well she bowled being desperately unlucky not to get a wicket. J Dodd replaced Trivett  and Matthews replacing E Dodd looked to keep the pressure up on Bishops Waltham who were struggling to score quickly. This looked a very good thing at this point too as the clouds were coming over very dark with a big threat of rain. However, play continued on and with J Dodd and Matthews keeping tight lines  BishopsWaltham were only 48-1 off 17 overs. Dodd picked up the wicket of Jennings with a great delivery and in the next over Matthews removed Porter. The pressure mounted with Dodd bowling a maiden and then Matthews again taking another wicket leaving them on 55-4 off 21 and with a serious problem with the rain approaching to get ahead of duckworthlewis. Matthews finished his first spell of 5 overs with Hartley replacing him. Hartley picked up a key wicket in his second over of the opener Boby for 43. Dodd finished his spell off in the next over taking 1-21 off 8 overs leaving Bishops Waltham on 73-5 .Trivett  returned and picked of the wicket of Dennis. At this point the rain poured down and decided to go off for rain Bishops Waltham on 83-6. We were back out 20 minutes later with Bishops Waltham needing a reduced target of 143 off 35 overs that meant 60 off 45 balls with just 4 wickets remaining  Captain Bradley was the key for Sparsholt to get him out to win the game as he was looking a very handy batter to push them along with a chance. With the first ball of Trivett’s 6th over he bowled a full toss which Bradley top edged in the air which was caught by keeper Selley. Trivett then bowled Dennis and with Jacob Hartley clean bowling Mash, Bishops Waltham ran out of overs finishing on 118 for 8. Another great win for Sparsholt3rds