Final day promotion agony for Sarisbury as Portsmouth finish Southern Premier League season in style

They needed to beat relegated Liphook & Ripsley and Alton to lose to Basingstoke to reclaim their seat at the top table of SPL action for the first time since 2015.

As it transpired, none of those results came to fruition - Alton won by 44 runs and Sarisbury suffered a shock 85-run defeat.

That was their third loss in their final five Division 1 games, having only lost three of their opening 13 fixtures.

Alton eventually enjoyed a 17-point lead over Sarisbury as they claimed the sole promotion place, with Hook & Newnham Basics demoted from the Premier Division.

Opener Ryan Covey struck 76 as Liphook, winning for only the fourth time in 18 league games, reached 199-4.

Six wickets then clattered for the addition of only 11 runs, with Jordan Wright (4-44) and Josh Hill (4-18) doing most of the damage.

In reply, Sarisbury lurched from 24-0 to 25-3 with Sam Floyd and Cameron Grierson both dismissed without scoring.

Nathan Feltham (28) and Jack Lovett (23) took the score to 82 before Feltham fell, and Lovett followed two runs later.

There was no way back from that and Sarisbury’s season ended in overwhelming anti-climax as they slithered to 125 all out.

But even if Josh Hill’s men had won, Alton would still have clinched the title.

Portsmouth brought the curtain down on their SPL campaign by skittling New Milton for just 68 at Fernhill.

The last six home wickets mustered just 18 runs with cheap pickings for Reuben McArdle (3-12), Steve Warner (3-16) and Joe Kooner-Evans (3-19).

That gave Portsmouth a 128-run victory and fourth place in the second tier, with Jamie Mitchell (41) having top scored in their 196 all out total.

McArdle finished fifth in the Division 1 wicket-taking list with 34, a table topped by Alton’s Bash Walters with 39 – one more than Sarisbury’s Ronan DeGrussa.