Steve Matthews has St Cross in a spin as Havant claim another Hampshire League victory

Steve Matthews, second left, took four wickets as Havant 2nds defeated St Cross 3rds in the Hampshire League. Picture: Neil Marshall

Left-arm spinner Steve Matthews took 4-14 of 6.2 overs as St Cross were inserted and routed for 74.

After Havant had lost two early wickets in reply, 1st XI regular Harry Gadd helped the visitors to a comfortable success.

Havant elected to bowl first on a surprisingly dry wicke; heavy cloud cover and muggy conditions meant the ball swung nicely in the air and nipped around for seamers Ali Gardener and Mark Martin.

After being hit for three successive fours, Martin had opener Guy Pearson-Gregory caught behind by keeper Morgan Cripps standing up to the stumps.

Gardener (2-20) followed this up by taking wickets with his next two deliveries, a superb diving catch by Andy Galliers at second slip being the highlight.

Continued pressure from the seamers in tough batting conditions had St Cross in further trouble after Martin (3-23) took two more wickets in two balls with the score 27-5.

A small partnership got the score up to 65 before Matthews removed top scorer Kevin Neave for 25, then dismissed Stuart Charman (0) in the following over.

Graham Burns removed Steve Fryer for a hard fought 12 off 42 balls with Matthews taking a smart diving catch at square leg.

The final wickets fell quickly to Matthews, who clean bowled three of his victims.

Havants reply got off to a shaky start with Charlie Whitfield caught off the first ball he received and Ollie Perkins bowled for a duck off his third.

From 7-2, Andrew Galliers (26 not out) and Gadd (40 not out off 27 balls) eased third-placed Havant to victory in only the 12th over.

Only two players hit double figures as Portsmouth 2nds were rolled over for just 86 by Bournemouth 2nds.

Captain James Mitchell (27) and Matt Walton (20) were the only ones to offer much resistance against Rob Pack (3-11), Tom Stanndard (3-25), Charlie Clamp (2-18) and Tom Robinson (2-19).

Five of the Portsmouth XI recorded ducks, including opener Matt Shaw and No 3 Joe Eales.

The day had started well for Portsmouth, though, when Eales (4-19) reduced Bournemouth to 45-4.

Freddie Oldfield (49) and Sarang Urankar (40), though, took the hosts to 185-9 (Billy Eales 2-28, Paul Hungerford 2-29).

Fareham & Crofton’s game against table-topping Parley was washed out by rain.

After Parley had been dismissed for 155 (Morgan Frost 3-19, Dan Wimble 2-22), Fareham were set a revised target of 115.

They crashed to 40-4 and were 55-4 - including 19 extras in a total of 26 extras - when more rain forced an abandonment.