Sparsholt, sponsored by Cala Homes, lost the toss and were put in to bat, with openers Ed Jenner and Jayden Derosa getting off to a steady start. Jenner hit a 6 and two fours before being caught on 21, looping a shot straight to a Portsmouth fielder. Derosa, who hit three fours on the way to 19, soon followed Jenner back to the pavilion to leave the score at 54-2. Lewis Dunford made five before being bowled, whilst Stuart Tognarelli hit two 4s before also being bowled by Patrick Burns (below), his fourth wicket of the day. Andy Worth fell for a duck, whilst Tom Foster played some good shots before falling for 7. Steve Wright also failed to score, but Tim Vokes managed to steady the flow of wickets with a patient 10 from 43 balls. Shortly after Adam Gough (2) was caught leaving the host in trouble on 98-9. Alex Dilley hit three sixes on the way to 23, giving the bowlers a fighting chance, whilst Jon Vokes finished on 4 not out – leaving Sparsholt at 127 all out.

After tea, Sparsholt managed an early breakthrough, with Alex Dilley bowling Mitchell for 2, which led to a break in play to replace the broken stump. The hosts’ bowling kept the run-rate low, and Steve Wright bowled Portmouth’s Collier for 12. Derosa took his first wicket of the day, bowling Martin for 22, however the visitors still had the advantage at 49-3. Derosa added his second and third wickets in quick succession, dismissing Jemildar (caught and bowled for 13) and trapping Palmer-Goddard lbw for 2 (pictured below). Sparsholt were unable to claim Portsmouth’s 6th wicket, as they managed to build up a 53 run partnership. Alex Dilley finally got the breakthough, trapping Shaw lbw for 20. But it wasn’t enough for Sparsholt, as the visitors comfortably reached their target with 4 wickets to spare. Next Saturday, Sparsholt will be travelling to play against Havant II.

New second team skipper Jon Sankey led a mix of youth and experience to a narrow victory in their first game of the season after last week’s washout. Winterslow batted first but only Russel Rowe (43) looked comfortable as Greg Whiting (2 for 22) and veteran Andy Pryce (2 for 28) kept things in check. Wickets continued to fall on a regular basis as Haida Ali Shah (2 for 26), Nick Doubell, Nayam Praghani and Sankey all looked impressive, and Tobias Stonier looked good behind the sticks. Tom Proctor (21) looked comfortable opening, but Sparsholt also lost wickets regularly with only Mike Doubell (28) the only other contributer of note until his 14 year old son Nick batted maturely reaching 28 not out with Haida also in double figures as the visitors squeezed home by two wickets.

The 3s got off to a winning start in Alderholt on Saturday. They were put in to bat, but got off to a slow start. However, the runs started to flow before Martin Patterson top edged a pull shot to square leg for 22 (71-1) and new recruit Huw Anthony fell for 7. Andy Trivett and Steve Rowe injected some urgency into the running, and they took the score to 121 in the 34th over. Rowe reached his maiden 50, before being caught shortly after for 51, whilst Trivett fell shortly after for 18. James Dorward (14*) and George Ellis (28*) took the score to 168-4. Mike Haslam and Mungo Patterson claimed two early wickets each, leaving the hosts at 14-4. James Dorward and Adam Trivett also chipped in with wickets, with Alderholt all out for 40 after just 15 overs.