Third Southern Premier League century for Portsmouth batter Jack Marston – and yet again he’s on the losing side!

Marston hit 104 as Portsmouth, asked to chase youthful Rowledge’s 269-6 total in the St Helens sunshine, finished just 12 runs short of victory.

Remarkably, it was a mirror image of another Division 1 game against Liphook & Ripsley in 2017 where Marston had compiled a career best 129 not out. On that occasion, Portsmouth also finished 12 runs short after being asked to chase 278.

Marston’s first SPL ton was his 102 against Totton & Eling 2nds in a Division 2 fixture in 2014, where Portsmouth were also beaten.

Marston and skipper Ben Duggan (48) put on 80 for the first wicket against table-topping Rowledge before the latter fell.

Marston then shared an 84-run partnership for the second wicket with James Mitchell (46). When that stand was ended, Sri Lankan overseas all-rounder Minhaj Jalill promptly collected his second duck in three Division 1 outings.

Wicketkeeper Sujeeth Daini (28) helped Marston add 59 for the sixth wicket before the latter was finally dismissed by sporting all-rounder Oli Ryman - who has had football trials for Chelsea - after hitting 13 fours in a 138-ball innings.

That set the scene for South African 19-year-old off-spinner Ash-Lee Harvey (4-36) to take centre stage.

With Harvey removing Daini, Steven Warner (4) and Henry Woolf (3) - as well as running out Ashan Silva for a duck - Portsmouth closed on 258-9 off their 50 overs.

Zac Le Roux (68), a fresher at Durham University, had earlier hit a SPL best as Rowledge - with six home-grown teenagers in their XI - rattled up 269-6 after electing to bat.

Opener Ricky Yates hit 41 off 53 balls before Rowledge stepped on the accelerator - Harvey hitting 30 off 24 deliveries, Le Roux collecting 10 boundaries in his 30-ball knock, Ryman swatting 34 off 16 balls (with three sixes) and Ryan Littlewood ending unbeaten on 43 off 30 deliveries.

Silva conceded 63 runs off his wicketless seven-over stint, while Rakshith Rao took 2-63. Jalill avoided coming in for any punishment, with 2-21 off his 10 overs.

The second tier’s leading runscorer hit a half-century as Sarisbury were defeated by second-placed Ventnor.

After being set a victory target of 242, Sri Lankan Dinesh Thimodya hit 52 at the top of the order to get Ventnor off to a good start.

Martin Blackman (60) and Hugh Calloway (44) later shared a 76-run stand for the fourth wicket. Though they were both dismissed, Ventnor completed a four-wicket success off the penultimate ball of their last over.

Sarisbury skipper Josh Hill (58) had top scored for his side, with No 9 Jordan Wright (40 off 34 balls) providing later order acceleration.

Thimodya now has 354 Division 1 runs at 86.25, while Blackman (291 at 97.00) is the section’s third highest runscorer. The pair are separated by Duggan, who has 319 runs at 79.75.

Both Portsmouth and Sarisbury have now won three and lost three of their opening six league games.