Portsmouth CC’s batting woes continue as they slump to third successive Southern Premier League defeat

Asked to chase a rain-revised target of 149 from 32 overs against Totton & Eling, Portsmouth collapsed to 45-8 - Peruzi (5-12 off seven overs) claiming five of the first six wickets at St Helens.

Total humiliation was spared by ninth wicket pair Dan Wallis (26) and No 10 Andrew Marston (23) adding 46.

But Portsmouth, who had been routed for 95 in their previous match against Andover, fared even worse this time as they were all out for 92 in 28.2 overs to lose by 56 runs.

Peruzi struck early, dismissing opener Jack Marston for a single.

Ben Duggan (6) was clean bowled and Portsmouth were 16-3 when Peruzi had No 3 Alex Hammomnd (9) caught by Harrison Clarke.

Will Smitherman lasted just five balls before he suffered his second successive duck, stumped off the bowling of Brighton Mugochi.

Hemanshu Herani (7) was Peruzi’s fourth victim and Portsmouth were 46-6 when skipper James Christian (8) became his fifth.

This was all a far cry from when Christian won the toss and elected to field.

Totton immediately slumped to 4-2 with Hawks footballing legend James Taylor dismissed for a duck, caught behind by Hammond off the bowling of Henry Woolf (3-21).

Taylor’s son, Ethan - who has played football for Gosport Borough but spent the 2020/21 season at AFC Totton - helped Harrison Clarke put on 75 for the third wicket before Taylor fell for 42.

Clarke also went on to score 42 before he was clean bowled by fourth change bowler Dan Wallis (3-33).

Totton’s last four wickets fell for just six runs as they were bowled out for 169 off the final ball of their 40 overs.

Portsmouth, who had started their season by losing to Rowledge off the last ball by three wickets, are second bottom of the SPL’s second tier.

They are the only club to have completed three matches so far due to the dismal May weather, and have lost them all.

Their match was the only one in the division to survive the latest batch of unseasonal bad weather.

Portsmouth 2nds also flopped with the bat as they suffered a 45-run loss to Old Basing in their Hampshire County League Division 1 fixture.

Asked to chase a rain revised target of 166 from 27 overs, they were all out for 120 with just one ball remaining.

Opener James Mitchell (27) was the only batsman to score more than 15 before he was run out.

Portsmouth had reached 53-1 but Mitchell’s departure was quickly followed by Sujeeth Daini (3) and captain Nicky Wyatt (4).

Old Basing openers Ben Ungaretti (46) and Jaiden Hall (59) had earlier put on 97 before Ethan Randall (3-56) - the sixth Portsmouth bowler used - dismissed them both.

The seventh bowler, Billy Eales, was even more successful - bagging 4-46 as Old Basing slipped from 165-2 to 184-7.