Sarisbury’s sixth straight win takes them further clear at the top of the Southern Premier League’s second tier

A six-wicket success against Calmore Sports was their sixth successive victory - on the day when second-placed Rowledge lost to Alton.

With six games remaining, hopes are now growing that Sarisbury will be able to reclaim the top flight status they lost when finishing bottom in 2015.

Australian bowler Ronan DeGrussa took his seasonal league tally to 28 wickets with 4-51 as Calmore were bowled out for 185.

That represented a considerable improvement bearing in mind they had crashed to 66-5 - DeGrussa dismissing opener Will Brewster (13) and Shawn Johnson (0).

Rob Franklin (2-24) removed the prolific Ben Johns (9) while Jordan Wright (2-45) trapped skipper Mark Lavelle (1) leg before.

Ricky Rawlins (38) and Tom Mills (9) put on 57 for the first Sarisbury wicket before both fell in quick succession.

After Sam Floyd hit 26, Cameron Grierson (44) and Jack Lovett (47 not out) guided Sarisbury to within an inch of their target with a fourth wicket stand of 81.

Nathan Feltham struck his second delivery to the boundary to seal Sarisbury’s latest victory.

This season’s form is a vast improvement on last year. Back then, Athletic only won six of their 18 fixtures and finished third bottom.

And they will be in a great position to claim the sole promotion place if they can beat Rowledge in a crucial encounter at Allotment Field next weekend.

Portsmouth are up to fifth place - just 12 points adrift of Rowledge - after a 21-run success against Basingstoke & North Hants.

Sri Lankan all-rounder Minhaj Jalill top scored with 63 as Portsmouth posted 218-7 after stand-in skipper Stephen Warner elected to bat at St Helens.

Jack Marston (28) and James Mitchell (23) made top order starts before Warner (22 off 14 balls) and Joe Kooner-Evans (19 not out off 18) provided late impetus. Extras (29) were the second top scorer, though.

Jalill (2-44) was among the wickets when Basingstoke slipped to 54-4 in reply.

A 77-run stand between Dean Nurse (56) and Brad Neal (46) threatened to put Basingstoke in the ascendancy before the latter was caught by James Christian off the bowling of Rakshith Rao (2-44).

Portsmouth’s leading SPL wicket-taker, Reuban McArdle, claimed 3-27 as the visitors were bowled out for 197.

McArdle now has 25 league victims at 15.08 - only Alton’s Bash Walters (30) and DeGrussa (28) have more.

Rowledge tailenders Ryan Littlewood and William Ryman came close to giving their side a stunning win against Alton.

Asked to chase Alton’s 264-5 target, Rowledge slumped to 149-7. But Littlewood (54 not out) and Ryman (52) - batting at no 7 and 9 respectively - gave them renewed hope by adding 98 for the eighth wicket.

Rowledge, though, ran out of overs, finishing 12 runs adrift on 253-8.

Skipper Scott Myers had earlier struck an unbeaten 105, his first SPL ton since 2014.

Elsewhere, the second tier’s leading runscorer starred with the ball as Ventnor defeated lowly Liphook & Ripsley.

Sri Lankan Dineth Thimodya - top of the run charts with 546 - bagged 5-47 as Liphook posted 225-9 off their 50 overs at Steephill.

Though Thimodya only made 19 in reply, Martin Blackman’s unbeaten 83 helped the Isle of Wight-based club to a three-wicket victory.

With 513 runs, Blackman is now the second highest runscorer in the division.