Portsmouth and Southampton go head to head in annual property association cricket match  Â

OFF the pitch, they're friendly business rivals '“ but on the bone-dry turf there was little room for sentiment.

The fiercely-contested annual cricket match took place between members of Portsmouth Property Association (PPA) and Southampton Property Association (SPA).

Both associations represent hundreds of businessmen and women involved in residential and commercial property across the Solent region.

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In a tense finish, PPA wrested the engraved silver trophy back from the SPA by one wicket in the 20-overs clash at St Helens Fields, Southsea.

Match organiser Andrew Prismall, managing director at HW Conveyancing Searches, said: '˜Having won the toss, SPA went into bat first and left the PPA chasing 90 for five in the heat.

'˜The odds were stacked against the PPA but the last batting pair, comprising of Tom Foster and 11th man Harnish Patel, who hadn't played since school, somehow snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. With 18 runs needed, Tom thankfully rattled the boundaries.

'˜Hats off to the PPA's Dave Greetham for getting us off to a cracking start '“ he had to retire after hitting the 30-run maximum.'