Sarisbury and Alton locked in a titanic last-day Southern Premier League title battle

Going into the final fixtures next weekend, only two points separate the top two - and only the champions are promoted into the top flight.

Alton enjoy a slender lead after an eight-wicket win over second-bottom Liphook, while Sarisbury - aiming to return to the Premier Division for the first time since 2015 - made hard work of defeating rock bottom Sparsholt by just three wickets.

On paper, Sarisbury have the easier final-day fixture - they face relegated Liphook while Alton take on fifth-placed Basingstoke & North Hants.

Should Alton and Sarisbury end up level on points, the title will be decided by who boasts the better runs per over rate throughout the season.

When two teams finish level on points, the first rule states whoever has the most wins will finish highest. But both Alton and Sarisbury will have 13 if they both triumph next weekend (or 12 if they lose).

The next adjudicator is the number of ties, but neither side has recorded one in 2022.

The third rule, therefore, is the average runs per over.

After winning the toss and electing to field, Sarisbury must have been hoping for a quick win when reducing Sparsholt to 31-4 and then 57-5 (Chris Sanders 3-32).

But Joshua Williams (39), Callum Doran (33) and No 9 Greg Whiting (26) hoisted them up to 168 all out.

In reply, Sarisbury advanced to 109-3 before losing three wickets for no runs - Nathan Feltham (22), Sam Floyd (18) and Sam Freemantle (0) all departing quickly.

Skipper Rob Franklin (32 not out) and Ronan DeGrussa (17) put on 52 for the seventh wicket, allowing Sarisbury to breathe more comfortably.

Franklin hit the winning runs off the penultimate ball of the 41st over as Sarisbury took the title race down to the last weekend.

Alton, asked to score 131 for victory by Liphook, weren’t far short of knocking off the runs without losing a wicket.

Openers Abhay Gonella (67 not out) and Dan Harris (51) put on 115 for the first wicket as they swept home by eight wickets in the 22nd over.

Portsmouth will finish third if they can beat New Milton in their final fixture and Calmore Sports lose at Ventnor.

That’s after they recorded a 65-run win over Ventnor at St Helens after amassing almost 300.

After he had won the toss, home skipper Ben Duggan and Jack Marston opened with a 113-run partnership before the former was out for 69.

READ MORE: Portsmouth & Southsea clinch SPL title

Marston went on to reach 82 before Minhaj Jalill strolled to the crease to belt 84 off 62 balls with seven fours and four sixes as Portsmouth totalled 296-7.

Ventnor’s reply was all about a fourth SPL hundred of the season for Sri Lankan Dinesh Thimodya, a man with 20 first class appearances to his name in his home country.

Opening the innings, he was still there at the close - unbeaten on 128 with Ventnor bowled out for 231.

Thimodya, who hit 17 fours and four sixes, now needs 61 runs from his final game to become the third SPL batter to reach 1,000 league runs in 2022.

Hambledon’s Matt De Villiers and South Wilts’ Tom Morton have already reached a milestone that only three players had reached since 1982 prior to this sun-drenched campaign.

Jalill was Portsmouth’s leading wicket-taker with three, but they did cost him 71 runs in 9.5 overs.