Half-centuries by openers Ali Hooper (59) and Glyn Treagus (58) laid the foundation for a 24-run win by Andover at Rowledge – a result which has lifted the Lions into third place in Southern Premier League Division 1.
It’s also set up a tasty clash with second place Portsmouth at London Road on Saturday, a match which marks the halfway point of a disappointing un-summerlike season.
Andover thrived after being put into bat at Church Road, with the openers getting them off to an aggressive start.
Hooper was particularly brutal on any width as he smashed his second consecutive half century in a 98-run opening partnership.
The experienced duo hit 17 fours between them with Hooper plundering 11 in his 59 before being stumped charging the wily David Lloyd, pictured left, the first of four stumpings by Rowledge captain Ben Wish, who has won the SPL1 wicket-keeping award for the past two seasons.
Craig Ross replaced Hooper but soon followed suit when he too was stumped off Lloyd, who went on to take 4-43. New Zealander James O’Gorman and Treagus then came together to kick the innings on with a quick-fire 50-run partnership before Treagus (58) was out caught.
Souter joined O’Gorman with only 10 overs to go and a licence to hit out, which is exactly what the big man did when he launched a huge six into the houses adjacent to the ground.
However, he fell soon after, trapped leg before to Kiwi spin all-rounder Sushant Balajee.
The ever-improving Matt Knight soon got into his stride and crunched three large sixes as he smashed 27 runs off just 19 balls.
O’Gorman fell agonisingly short of what would have been yet another half-century for the town side when he was caught on the ropes for 48.
“He continues to steady the middle order and is having a positive effect on the rest of the side with his calm head and superb stroke-play,” praised Andover skipper Matt Hooper.
Wish, however, wasn’t so complimentary about Rowledge in the field.
“We didn’t take our catches and dropped three in first five overs,” he moaned.
“We let the scoring rate get too high, after which it was about seeing how many bonus points we could pick up.”
Andover’s opening bowlers Mike Adams (1-32) and Babu Veettil (2-33) came out firing once again and made early inroads in the Rowledge top order and had the hosts 32-2.
Captain Hooper rotated his bowlers well as they looked to break the partnership of Gleave (42) and Lloyd, who added 60 before the pint-sized leg spin of Danny Foy struck with a googly.
In the end, it was left to the evergreen Lloyd to single-handedly drag Rowldege towards some bating bonus points. He hit ten fours in an unbeaten 80 and with Wish (26) took the Surrey border club to 206-6 at stumps.
It’s also set up a tasty clash with second place Portsmouth at London Road on Saturday, a match which marks the halfway point of a disappointing un-summerlike season.
Andover thrived after being put into bat at Church Road, with the openers getting them off to an aggressive start.
Hooper was particularly brutal on any width as he smashed his second consecutive half century in a 98-run opening partnership.
The experienced duo hit 17 fours between them with Hooper plundering 11 in his 59 before being stumped charging the wily David Lloyd, pictured left, the first of four stumpings by Rowledge captain Ben Wish, who has won the SPL1 wicket-keeping award for the past two seasons.
Craig Ross replaced Hooper but soon followed suit when he too was stumped off Lloyd, who went on to take 4-43. New Zealander James O’Gorman and Treagus then came together to kick the innings on with a quick-fire 50-run partnership before Treagus (58) was out caught.
Souter joined O’Gorman with only 10 overs to go and a licence to hit out, which is exactly what the big man did when he launched a huge six into the houses adjacent to the ground.
However, he fell soon after, trapped leg before to Kiwi spin all-rounder Sushant Balajee.
The ever-improving Matt Knight soon got into his stride and crunched three large sixes as he smashed 27 runs off just 19 balls.
O’Gorman fell agonisingly short of what would have been yet another half-century for the town side when he was caught on the ropes for 48.
“He continues to steady the middle order and is having a positive effect on the rest of the side with his calm head and superb stroke-play,” praised Andover skipper Matt Hooper.
Wish, however, wasn’t so complimentary about Rowledge in the field.
“We didn’t take our catches and dropped three in first five overs,” he moaned.
“We let the scoring rate get too high, after which it was about seeing how many bonus points we could pick up.”
Andover’s opening bowlers Mike Adams (1-32) and Babu Veettil (2-33) came out firing once again and made early inroads in the Rowledge top order and had the hosts 32-2.
Captain Hooper rotated his bowlers well as they looked to break the partnership of Gleave (42) and Lloyd, who added 60 before the pint-sized leg spin of Danny Foy struck with a googly.
In the end, it was left to the evergreen Lloyd to single-handedly drag Rowldege towards some bating bonus points. He hit ten fours in an unbeaten 80 and with Wish (26) took the Surrey border club to 206-6 at stumps.