It was a mixed bag of results for Sparsholt this past weekend as the first team came apart at Paultons, the second team putting together a 500 run nail biter against IBM Hursley and the third team recording their second win of the season with an impressive performance at Hartley Wintney.

At the halfway point of the season, Sparsholt’s first team travelled to Paultons. Sparsholt won the toss and elected to bat first. This was a decision which was quickly regretted as Sparsholt lost 2 wickets in the opening over which was a sign of things to come. Wickets continued to fall on a pitch which heavily favoured the seamers with it offering a lot of lateral movement off of the wicket. Wickets fell at regular intervals, the score was creeping upwards but so was the wickets column. Bowlers bowled in good areas and took wickets in clumps which was backed up by some fantastic fielding, most notably of which was the fantastic one handed diving catch by James Bills. Bowling highlights include Peter Lamb who took 4-32 from his 10 overs. Opener Haworth batted through the innings but was the last wicket to fall for a well fought 46 with Sparsholt being dismissed for a well under par 110.

It was clear that Sparsholt needed early wickets and Paultons wanted to chase down the total with as few wickets as possible in order to gain maximum points. After a positive start, assisted by a number of wides the first wicket fell with the score on just 14. Sparsholt struck again in quick succession reducing the home side to 41-4; however Sparsholt were unable to continue to apply the pressure and in spite of taking 2 more wickets, they were unable to dismiss the Paultons batsmen meaning that Paultons were victorious in just the 29th over.

Sparsholt second team hosted IBM Hursley at the Norman Edwards ground; with returning skipper Adam Gough, his experienced brother Dave and comedy clown Ed Jenner along with Tom Procter and Nayan Phagami also selected following an end to their exams.

Sparsholt won the toss and elected to bat with Andy Steggall and Jenner taking on the bowling right from the start. Jenner launched several big hits finding the gaps and dispersing the field with a 6 in the second over as the field pushed back Jenner continued play his shots and fell caught on the boundary for 33 with the score at 77. Phagami followed quickly bring Worth to the crease. The introduction of leg spin slowed the run rate down and Stegall was trapped LBW for 31. Dave Gough fell victim to spin bringing Tom Procter to the crease. Andy Worth continued to hit the bad ball before being completely undone and cleaned up by a googly for 32. Whiting joined Procter and took the score to 156 for 6. Procter began to play with freedom and took his score passed 50 as partnerships with Adam Gough and Andy Pryce taking the total to 246 , Procter in blasting 81 not out with 3 sixes and 8 4's.

As Sparsholt took the field; Adam Gough decided to open the bowling with a mixture of pace from Nayan Phagami and the spin of Mungo Patterson. Phagami had the opener trapped LBW for 6. Patterson’s flight and guile beat the bat on numerous occasions. IBM pushed the score to 82 before a mix up caused a run out for Worth fielding at cover. Haidur Ali quickly earned a wicket caught at mid on and Pryce trapped Pfeiffer LBW for 55. Procter followed up with a direct hit to run out Meech for 8. Wallis took the attack to the bowlers smashing 53 and putting IBM within sight of the total as wickets fell to catches on the boundary from Procter and Wallis caught behind. The return of Patterson cleaned up the tail with 4 for 31 as Sparsholt won by 30 runs with a good team performance and yet another outstanding contribution for Tom Procter.

Under overcast but warm conditions at Hartley Whitney's Bramshill ground, 10 man Sparsholt won the toss and elected to field. Opening bowlers Will Putt & Jack Tucker quickly had the opposition under pressure and with the ball seaming three early wickets fell to apply the pressure on the home side.

A courageous fight back by the home team, in particular youngster Charlie Puddifant (59*) meant that the score board ticked over particularly aided by some full tosses. After the hard work had been done by the opening bowlers, Sparsholt’s attack moved to bring in the spinners who were able to take wickets regularly bowling out the opposition for 125 in the 31st over.

After an initial wobble, Sparsholt’s batsmen dominated the game with a couple of fantastic partnerships. By the tenth over the game was never in doubt as Simon Herridge (68*) hit his groove and found the boundary numerous times. Along with valuable contributions from Whiting (28) and Pickering (20); Sparsholt’s third team notched their second win of the season after 5 matches from just 23 overs. Thus putting them firmly in mid table and looking forward to growing in confidence to climb the table over the coming weeks.

Next week Sparsholt’s first team are on the road again as they take the trip to Hartley Wintney, the second team welcome Wherwell to the Norman Edwards ground while the third team look to build on their win when they face Oakmount at Winchester’s King George V ground. Also on Sunday, Sparsholt welcome Sarisbury Athletic to the Norman Edwards ground in the second round of the Southern Premier League T20 competition.