Purbrook and Services suffer first defeats

United Services captain Tom May felt his side were below par in their seven-run defeat at the hands of New Milton at Burnaby Road.

‘Their opening bat scored 69 after we dropped him twice before he had four on the board,’ said May.

‘That was annoying and what cost us in the end.’

When United Services batted May, Mark Toogood and Matt Rogers got themselves out too soon.

Yashan Akila (62) arrived at the crease and batted through but none of his partners stayed with him.

‘When we had 140 runs on the board with five wickets down I was confident we could still win it,’ said May.

‘But we kept losing wickets.

‘We were not at our best and should have chased our target down.’

Purbrook lost by 16 runs against fellow unbeaten hosts Alton II despite a brave rearguard action.

The home side batting first were restricted to 191 for seven with Sameen Mahboob taking three wickets for 33 runs.

Martin Lee’s side made a mess of their reply as five of the first seven batsmen failed to reach double figures.

James Holder was given out lbw with just one run on the board and Brad Mengham was clean bowled just two runs later.

Sean Figgins (26) did his best but at 88 for eight the visitors looked dead and buried.

In a late flourish Aaron Dean (37), James Gurney (33) and Mahboob (27 not out) could only get Purbrook close by adding 87 runs for the last two wickets.

Fareham & Crofton maintained their improvement with an excellent five wicket win at Ellingham.

Burridge II and Sarisbury Athletic II are still searching for a first win after losing at OT’s & Romsey II and Andover II respectively.

The former lost by five wickets after being bowled out for 193 runs.

Sarisbury II lost by six wickets with their total of 163 never looking enough.