Journeaux: Disciplined approach will be key at Basingstoke

The home side will also be intent on exacting revenge for their opening day defeat at the hands of the visitors.

Captain Matt Journeaux wants to see his team prove a point.

They have been performing well in most matches recently but must remain focused and keep their levels high.

‘We didn’t bat particularly well at their place,’ said Journeaux

‘Since then we have picked up and have been posting scores of 250 runs plus.

‘Poor batting crept in against Bournemouth in our last game but we were saved by the bad weather.

‘Sometimes if you are going to launch a successful bid for the title those are the sort of things that need to go for you.

‘There is a need for us to regain a more disciplined approach for this game because the opposition possess a decent bowling attack.

‘We had an excellent T20 win at Ventnor last Sunday when we posted a daunting target of 200 runs and that will help.

‘The challenge now is to put together a few back-to-back wins.

‘If we can do that then we can open up a bigger gap at the top.

‘At the start of the season if anyone had suggested we would be top and in the quarter-finals of the T20 I would have chewed their right arm off.’

Sarisbury are without Ricky Rawlings but are hoping to have experienced bowler Dan Goldstraw back in the side.

Goldstraw recently became the first bowler in Southern League history to take 500 wickets.

Portsmouth captain Rich Locke expects his team to bounce back from recent defeats.

They were short of their own high standards when they lost to Andover.

The team are aiming to get their title bid back on track by completing a league double over their lowly hosts.

‘Andover was another game where we fell short on implementing our skills,’ said Locke.

‘We should have put a lot more runs on the board.

‘When we didn’t it put extra pressure on our bowlers.’

Vikram Dawson and Henry Farrant are unavailable for Portsmouth.

They are replaced by Hampshire Youth team player Joe Kooner-Evans and Jordan Palmer-Goddard.

– KEVIN RICKETTS