Rowner denied first Hampshire League win of 2022 in dramatic tie with Portchester – Division 5 South East round-up

After nine successive defeats, they were involved in a dramatic tie against the team immediately above them in the Division 5 South East title, Portchester.

With the scores level, Rowner’s Jon Cooper was caught by Brad Lowry off the penultimate ball of the match bowled by Neil Hards.

The Gosport-based side had made a superb effort to get so close to that elusive first win, after crashing to 94-7.

Toby Mowat (80) had put on 52 for the ninth wicket with No 10 Matt Stancliffe (7) before adding another 13 for the last wicket with Cooper (0).

Lowry ended with 3-24 and Derek Kelly bagged 3-38.

Portchester’s tail had also wagged impressively after the second-bottom side had slipped to 73-6.

Matt Harrison (41 not out) put on 47 for the seventh wicket with David Pitcher (17) and another 50 for the eighth wicket with No 10 Andy Thomas (34) as Portchy closed on 173-8.

Adrian Chesney doubled his previous best score en route to celebrating a maiden league century for Fareham & Crofton.

The batter entered the Division 5 South East fixture against Railway Triangle boasting a career high of 56.

But he improved that to 112 out of a F & C total of 218-8. Next highest total was extras (34) with skipper Simon Gough (25) and No 10 Richard Thomas (20 not out) next best with the bat.

Ben Jones (67) and Tom Newman (19) put on 51 for the first Triangle wicket, but that was as good as it got as they were dismissed for 137 (Chris Reynolds 3-40).

Opener William Pitts helped leaders Emsworth 2nds claim a ninth win in 10 league matches.

He struck 91 as the table-toppers eased past Wickham’s 180-4 total (Nick Stothert 55) with seven wickets in hand.

Lee Gray (46 not out) helped Pitts add 104 for the third wicket.

Sandeep Somvar was close to a century as Challengers Gosport trimmed Havant 3rds by eight wickets at Privett Park, leaping above them into third spot.

Asked to chase 173 for victory, the opener reached 97 before he was caught by Noel Baiju off the bowling of Stuart Primmer.

Andrew Ransley (59), batting at No 5, ensured Havant - who had won eight of their opening nine games - recovered from 131-7 to post 172-9 after his side had chosen to bat.

Hamish Duncan impressed with bat and ball as Hambledon 3rds defeated Solent Challengers by seven wickets.

First, he claimed 3-6 off eight overs as Solent were bowled out for 141 at Broadhalfpenny Down.

Extras (35) top scored with Dipin Varghese (30) the highest scorer with the bat after Solent had been inserted.

Archie Rushin (40) top scored for the Dons in their reply, before Duncan came in at No 9 with the score 126-7. He struck an unbeaten 13 in helping Lewis Le Clercq (32 not out) guide their side to victory.

Syam Nair and Sanal Appukuttan shared six cheap wickets as Kerala 3rds hammered Hayling Island 2nds.

Replying to Kerala’s 247-7, Hayling were rolled over for 73 (Morgan Marshall 23) with Nair (3-7) and Appukuttan (3-11) the main wicket-takers.

Opener Rajeev Vijayan (72) and Appukuttan (45) had helped Kerala post a decent total after they had been inserted. Chris Hayward took 3-43.