HOOK and Newnham Basics captain Matt Love has warned his side that they must focus on their own game this weekend.
Liphook and Ripsley visit the King George V, with Hook's main rivals for the title, New Milton and Basingstoke and North Hants, doing battle at the same time.
Love said: "It's a big weekend for us because if we can win, we will either gain ground on New Milton or put a bit of a gap between ourselves and Basingstoke.
"We need to focus on ourselves, because whatever happens at New Milton will be positive for us. As soon as you stop concentrating on your own performance, that's when you can lose."
Last weekend's dramatic victory at May's Bounty saw Hook move above Basingstoke and into second place in the Southern Electric Premier League Division One table.
Hook will be strongly fancied to beat eighth-placed Liphook, but after losing their first four outings, they have won their last two matches, beating Hartley by 56 runs last time out.
Love added: "We know a few of the boys at Liphook and they are just starting to get things right, with all-rounder Suman Gangully in prime form. They are a good bowling outfit and losing to Hartley Wintney a couple of weeks ago showed us that you cannot take anything for granted in this league. One of the reasons we were so frustrated to lose to Hartley was because we want to make our home ground a tough place for visiting teams to play at. Hopefully that will be the case again against Liphook.
Hook will be boosted by the return of middle-order batsman and off-spinner Richard Willcock, while Jordan Hobday is in contention for a first-team recall after impressing in Sunday's Electric twenty20 Cup win over Hartley Wintney
Hartley Wintney captain Jamie Teale is keen for his side to put together a winning run in over the next few weeks, to prevent them being sucked into a relegation dog fight in the second half of the season.
Bottom side Totton and Eling visit the historic Hartley Green, a game that will be followed by matches against Rowledge and Andover, who are also below the village side at the moment. Hartley sit fourth in the table, but only one win separates the bottom six sides ahead of this weekend.
Teale said: “The league is very tight at the moment and we want to give ourselves some breathing space with some wins in our next few games, because we then play the top sides again.”
“Totton are bottom and being at home we have to back ourselves to get a result. Hopefully we can put a good score on the board and put the pressure on them to chase it.”
Totton have lost their last four games, going down to a seven-wicket defeat against Calmore Sports last weekend. However, New Zealander Andrew Fletcher has been in good form with the bat and is also no mug with the ball either. James Taylor misses the game, but Tom Beresford is a potentially explosive replacement.
Hartley will reshuffle the side that lost at Liphook and Ripsley last week as Richard Hill and Mark Teale are unavailable. Opener Matt Kerr, who hit an excellent 70 on the opening day of the season at May’s Bounty, returns to the line-up, having been missing for a few weeks. A decision on who will take over the wicket-keeping gloves from Hill will be decided later in the week, as his normal stand-in Simon Carter is also unavailable.
The start of the game against Totton will be slightly delayed as the procession for the annual Hartley Wintney Fete goes around the cricket ground.
Totton & Eling: Dibden, Fletcher, Arnold, Beresford, Metcalfe, Jenkin, Mooney, Mellett, Scurr, Kinchington, Hamid.
Andover have Glyn Treagus back against Bournemouth as they look to arrest a desperate run of form.
Andover: M Hooper, A Hooper, Treagus, D Taylor, Souter, Purchase, Knight, Augustus, R Taylor, Foy, Jansen.
Calmore Sports, who host Rowledge, plan to build on their Electric t20 Cup success against Waterlooville as they bid for a third league victory.
Left-hander Callum Holloway returns and is anxious to claim a t20 Cup spot against South Wilts on June 28 having unexpectedly missed the Ville victory.
Calmore Sports: Lavelle, Vann, Johns, Rose, Holloway, Perry, Goodrich, West, Donovan, Proudley, Wright.
Liphook and Ripsley visit the King George V, with Hook's main rivals for the title, New Milton and Basingstoke and North Hants, doing battle at the same time.
Love said: "It's a big weekend for us because if we can win, we will either gain ground on New Milton or put a bit of a gap between ourselves and Basingstoke.
"We need to focus on ourselves, because whatever happens at New Milton will be positive for us. As soon as you stop concentrating on your own performance, that's when you can lose."
Last weekend's dramatic victory at May's Bounty saw Hook move above Basingstoke and into second place in the Southern Electric Premier League Division One table.
Hook will be strongly fancied to beat eighth-placed Liphook, but after losing their first four outings, they have won their last two matches, beating Hartley by 56 runs last time out.
Love added: "We know a few of the boys at Liphook and they are just starting to get things right, with all-rounder Suman Gangully in prime form. They are a good bowling outfit and losing to Hartley Wintney a couple of weeks ago showed us that you cannot take anything for granted in this league. One of the reasons we were so frustrated to lose to Hartley was because we want to make our home ground a tough place for visiting teams to play at. Hopefully that will be the case again against Liphook.
Hook will be boosted by the return of middle-order batsman and off-spinner Richard Willcock, while Jordan Hobday is in contention for a first-team recall after impressing in Sunday's Electric twenty20 Cup win over Hartley Wintney
Hartley Wintney captain Jamie Teale is keen for his side to put together a winning run in over the next few weeks, to prevent them being sucked into a relegation dog fight in the second half of the season.
Bottom side Totton and Eling visit the historic Hartley Green, a game that will be followed by matches against Rowledge and Andover, who are also below the village side at the moment. Hartley sit fourth in the table, but only one win separates the bottom six sides ahead of this weekend.
Teale said: “The league is very tight at the moment and we want to give ourselves some breathing space with some wins in our next few games, because we then play the top sides again.”
“Totton are bottom and being at home we have to back ourselves to get a result. Hopefully we can put a good score on the board and put the pressure on them to chase it.”
Totton have lost their last four games, going down to a seven-wicket defeat against Calmore Sports last weekend. However, New Zealander Andrew Fletcher has been in good form with the bat and is also no mug with the ball either. James Taylor misses the game, but Tom Beresford is a potentially explosive replacement.
Hartley will reshuffle the side that lost at Liphook and Ripsley last week as Richard Hill and Mark Teale are unavailable. Opener Matt Kerr, who hit an excellent 70 on the opening day of the season at May’s Bounty, returns to the line-up, having been missing for a few weeks. A decision on who will take over the wicket-keeping gloves from Hill will be decided later in the week, as his normal stand-in Simon Carter is also unavailable.
The start of the game against Totton will be slightly delayed as the procession for the annual Hartley Wintney Fete goes around the cricket ground.
Totton & Eling: Dibden, Fletcher, Arnold, Beresford, Metcalfe, Jenkin, Mooney, Mellett, Scurr, Kinchington, Hamid.
Andover have Glyn Treagus back against Bournemouth as they look to arrest a desperate run of form.
Andover: M Hooper, A Hooper, Treagus, D Taylor, Souter, Purchase, Knight, Augustus, R Taylor, Foy, Jansen.
Calmore Sports, who host Rowledge, plan to build on their Electric t20 Cup success against Waterlooville as they bid for a third league victory.
Left-hander Callum Holloway returns and is anxious to claim a t20 Cup spot against South Wilts on June 28 having unexpectedly missed the Ville victory.
Calmore Sports: Lavelle, Vann, Johns, Rose, Holloway, Perry, Goodrich, West, Donovan, Proudley, Wright.