Purbrook skipper Lee sees his gamble pay off

The home side made a solid start making 40 without loss but then lost two wickets in two balls.

Sean Figgins hit 52 as he came in and steadied the ship to get Purbrook out of their sticky situation.

The home side posted 178 for nine with Berger Nel (17), Aaron Dean (16) and Hamid Khan (14) chipping in with valuable late runs.

The writing was on the wall for the visitors when they slumped to 72 for five and only Simon Creal (39) provided any resistance.

Lee felt batting first was the best approach on the day.

‘The win is a nice little pressure release for us and we did the job on the day,’ said the Purbrook skipper.

‘I gambled by deciding to bat first on what proved to be a damp wicket.

‘The aim was to go out, get a decent total and then defend it.

‘The thunderstorms hadn’t done the wicket much good and it was pretty slow to try and score on.’

Gosport vice-captain Harrop praised Purbrook for being a bit more switched on.

He said: ‘The wicket was damp but it didn’t play badly.

‘Purbrook applied themselves a bit more than we did.

‘We played some rash shots and paid the price.

‘It means we have got ourselves in a little group at the bottom rather than putting some daylight between us and them.’

Waterlooville suffered their first defeat with a 26-run defeat at Havant II despite a good all-round performance from Archie Reynolds.

Reynolds took three wickets for 37 runs as Havant were bowled out for 199 and then got 33 runs.

The bowling of Peter Hayward (three for 35) and Steve Matthews (three for 20) dented the visitors hopes.

Earlier Chris Stone (113) had notched an impressive century with Matthews (50). offering great support .

Sarisbury Athletic bounced back to winning ways in division one with a thumping 101-run win at Rowledge.

Stand-in captain Ricky Rawlins top scored with 79 as Sarisbury posted a target of 231 for five.

Shayne Freemantle took three wickets for 47, Rawlins grabbed four for 16 and Phil Jewell took two for 23 as they ripped through the Rowledge batting line-up to secure the victory.

Hambledon slipped to a six-wicket home defeat at the hands of OT’s & Romsey after being bowled out for 170.