Bishops Waltham’s new found County Division 1 status is under threat after a run of five successive defeats has seen them sucked into the relegation zone.
They have only three wins to their credit in ten outings and were searching for their first victory since June 11 when fourth-placed Hook& Newnham Basics II visited Albany Road today.
A narrow four-run defeat by promotion chasing Purbrook has left Bishop’s precariously placed third from bottom in the three-down danger zone.
Winless Totton & Eling are near certainties for the drop, but any two of six struggling teams could occupy the other drop places.
Promoted as runners-up to United Services last season, Bishops Waltham almost pulled off a surprise result at promotion chasing Purbrook, where they lost by four runs.
They had Purbrook in a spot of bother at 56-4 but ended up chasing 222 after Sean Figgins (41) and Clark Harding (44) had pulled the hosts out of the mire.
Ross Bullard (43) and Adam Wymbs (30) had Bishops comfortably placed at 71-2, but nerves became frayed in both camps as the visitors – having needed 11 to win off the last two overs – required a six off the last ball and closed four behind at 218-9.
It didn’t help Bishops Waltham’s cause that fellow strugglers Andover and Burridge both won.
Andover have won their last three games, but losing six of their opening seven means they entertained Portsmouth & Southsea today still stuck in the bottom two.
Martin Roberts hit 110 (two sixes and 11 fours) as Andover chased down Ventnor’s 272-6 at Steephill.
Burridge posted 269-6 (Simon Beavis 66) at Burnaby Road, where they dismissed early season leaders United Services for 222.
Sarisbury Athletic must have fancied their chances of joining the win brigade when they put 282-6 (Jamie Dunn 66) on the board against Fareham & Crofton at Allotment Road.
But Fareham got home by two wickets, with Hampshire Under-15 all-round prospect Oli Southon hitting a match winning 82.
Ellingham continued their downward spiral with a 37-run defeat against fourth-placed  Hook and Newnham Basics II at the King George V Ground.
Hook’s 258-8 was based around Graham Buckingham (97) and Andrew Darmody (52).
Ellingham’s valiant chase was undone by Jack Campbell, who celebrated his first Hook II appearance of the summer with a 6-19 return.
“Jack bowls stump-to-stump seam-up. He also smashed 25 in the last four overs of our innings to help us to the total of 258,” said wounded Hook skipper Kevin Light, who fractured his thumb during the game.
Ashley Collinson bagged his maiden New Milton century in the 313-9 run mauling of Totton & Eling’s attack at Fernhill.
He hit 114 and shared a formidable 165-run partnership with Oli Shrubsole (57), who added a 4-18 return to his half-century in Milton’s comfortable victory.
Shrubsole, who joined Milton from Parley this season, has also been producing some fine individual performances for Dorset’s Under-17 team.
At the current rate of progress, Ropley’s South African Tim Niemand will probably top the CD1 batting charts, though being overseas he won’t be eligible for any awards.
He plundered 114 (five sixes and 13 fours)and joined Will Gabb (79) in a 313-run spree at Shrewton.
The Wiltshire side responded with 221, with Will Sleeman (77) and Dan Bingley (52) prominent before Will Harries biffed an entertaining 40 not out to boost Shrews’ bonus point tally.
Ropley are now fifth in the log – principally on the back of Niemand’s runs ...
Promotion chasing Portsmouth & Southsea were looking down the barrels of defeat at 114-7 against visiting Old Tauntonians & Romsey II.
But were rescued by Sayeed Shadid (89 not out) and Ben Saunders (70), who both made career-best scores in an amazing 163-run eighth-wicket stand (probably a league record) which saw the Southsea side to 289-8.
“They played the knocks of their lives,” said P & S skipper Kieron Dunstan, whose side went on to win by 85 runs.
Alton II, who host P & S on August 13, still lead the field by 17 points after Richard Anthony (75) and Howard Gadsby (66) shared an unbroken 162-run stand in the eight-wicket win at St Cross Symondians III.
In-form Steve Berryman (58) and Roly Fowler (40) top scored in Symondians’ 212-9.

Easton & Martyr Worthy found themselves on the receiving end of a 354-run battering from County Division 2 promotion chasing Rowledge II at Cockets Mead.
Jake Austin led the run assault with a blistering 194 not out – 160 of which came in boundary hits, ten sixes and 25 fours.
The former Tilford cricketer shared a double-century partnership with Nick Morrant (90), after which Sam Marshall (40) helped take the visitors’ total to a towering 357-2.
The game was finished as a contest but Easton didn’t go down without a fight – an unbeaten 59 by Dean Griffin taking their reply to 173 before the evergreen Chris Yates wrapped up the tail with a four-wicket haul.
The win moved Rowledge II into second place behind runaway leaders Longparish, who have established a commanding 40-point lead at the top of CD2 after eight successive wins.

Paul Sparshott probably thought he’d ‘scored’ his last century when he hung up his bat (he was a decent batsman in local cricket) to take up umpiring seriously and become one of the South Coast Panel's lead officials.
Until, that was, he sole umpired (both ends) Fareham & Crofton’s County Division 1 match against Hook & Newnham Basics at Bath Lane.
So off-line was the bowling, Paul signalled a staggering 109 extras during the game which Hook won by 80 runs.
Fareham sent down 46 extras – 31 of them in wides and no-balls – but Hook contrived to beat that !
They chalked up a half-century in wides and no-balls and 63 total extras.
But Hook’s 296-9 proved too many for Fareham, who made 216 all out in reply.
Sparshott returned home to book an immediately appointment with his physio ...

Sarisbury Athletic seconds put their County Division 1 relegation troubles behind them to dent Portsmouth & Southsea’s prospects of a Southern Premier League return next summer.
An unexpected 84-run win at Allotment Road lifted Sarisbury out of the immediate three-down danger zone.
The result left P & S an ever-widening gap to close at the top in order to achieve a return to the Premier League in 2017. 
Hampshire Over-50s captain Colin Day (68) and Melbourne-bound Toby Mitcheson (40) shared a century opening stand to provide the platform for Sarisbury’s 197-8.
Tom Farnsworth and Steve Clement peppered the boundary rope ten times as P & S raced to 47-0 in six overs.
But an astonishing collapse saw the visitors drop from 70-1 to 113 all out, with Chris Sanders (4-36), little Sam Hill (3-13) and Cameron Pye (3-4) creating the grand slide.
The demise of P & S strengthened the claims of Alton II and Purbrook to the top two places.
Both cashed in, Alton with a 48-run win over Burridge II, and Purbrook by a massive 325-run margin at Ellingham.
Alton’s ninth straight win came after they had posted 227 (Richard Anthony 66) and then bowled lowly Burridge out for 169, Portsmouth Grammar’s Ollie Wright making 47.
John Moller belted three sixes and 23 fours in a career best 155 as Purbrook piled up 380-6 at Pickett Post before Aaron Dean [pictured] blew away the Ellingham batting with a CD1 best 9-30.
He might have got all ten wickets had Ellingham mustered 11 players.
Ironically, the last HL cricketer to take nine wickets in an innings was also a Purbrook cricketer, Ian Limb, with 9-27 back in 1993.
The gap between Alton and Purbrook is 15 points - and P & S are effectively 23 behind that.
Hook & Newnham Basics moved to within four points of the city club after an extras strewn 80-run win at Fareham & Crofton.
Hook made 296-9 (Ben Alnutt 46/Jack Robson 42), but were concerned when left-handers Tom Kent (56) and Viraat Sahu (37) shared a 132-run start for the hosts.
Despite Hook’s generosity, Fareham couldn’t keep it up and were eventually dismissed for 216, with Rich Willcock (4-54) and teenage spinner Liam Doran (3-35) plotting their downfall.
In-form Steve Berryman scored an unbeaten 79 to guide St Cross Symondians III to a five-wicket win over Totton & Eling II, whose 233 included a half-century from one-time Calmore Sports all-rounder Dominic Newman (59).
Shrewton won a low scoring affair by nine runs at Albany Road, defending a modest 142 (Neerav Trivedi 4-23) and then reducing the Bishops to 82-8.
A late rally saw BW reach 133 (Dan Wheeler 28), but Shrewton pair Dan Pownall (4-34) and Jamie Mitchell (3-30) had long since done the damage.
Chasing a total of a 165, Ventnor II clinched a two-wicket win at Old Tauntonians & Romsey II.
The returning David Beven (4-31) made an immediate impact, and with Hugh Calloway and young Ben Attrill chipping in with two wickets apiece OTR were dismissed for 164.
Pierre Kriel (57) led the Ventnor response, but it was a ninth-wicket partnership of 32 which proved decisive, skipper Martin Blackman (21) and teenager Harry Ridley seeing Ventnor home.
An unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 60 between Aidan Jansen and Ed Duckworth earned Andover II a vital win over New Milton, whose 178 included 97 from New Zealander Dave Wakefield, who had been dropped from the SPL side.
Harri Williams (32) made his farewells before returning to New Zealand.

Things just seem to go from bad to worse for Ellingham’s Hampshire League cricketers ...
Three weeks ago, they were skittled for seven (four of which were wides) by United Services at Portsmouth’s Burnaby Road.
It was the lowest total score ever recorded in the league’s 43-year history.
Against Shrewton seven days later, they improved immeasurably by making 289-8 – but still lost because the Wiltshire side had already posted a towering 303-8 !
But when Purbrook came visiting their Picket Post ground last weekend, it all went terribly wrong for Ellingham again – both with the bat and the ball.
They could only muster ten men, who spent a hot afternoon in the field, collecting the ball off the adjoining A31 or fishing it out of the New Forest heath and bracken as Purbrook smashed a huge 380-6.
John Moller hit a career-best 155, including three sixes and 23 fours.
Then, when it came to their turn to bat, Ellingham had no answer whatsoever to Purbrook pace bowler Aaron Dean, who clean bowled seven batsmen and went on to take all nine available wickets at a personal cost of 30 runs.
Ellingham were all out for 59, with Dean celebrating a career-best return.

It’s developed into a three-horse race for the Hampshire League, County Division 1 title, with Purbrook and Portsmouth & Southsea still clinging on to Alton’s shirt-tails at the top.
Alton have won all eight games so far, including a significant victory over Purbrook, and enjoy a 16-point lead at the top.
They predictably ran amok against winless Totton, rattling up 331-5 with Richard Anthony (98), Andy Pearce (51) and Laurence Hughes (42) leading the way.
Stephen Ball (5-15) and Lee Partner (3-30) did the damage with the ball while only Dominic Newman (40), back on the UK scene after a decade or more away in Australia, and Liam Houghton (34) helped Totton limp to 143 all out.
Fareham & Crofton’s young side were no match for Purbrook, who were never in danger after posting 244-7, with James Holder cracking late 48 after Martin Lee (40), Brad Mengham (26) and John Moller (47) had done the initial spadework.
Three wickets each for Aaron Dean and Ben Michel sent Fareham slipping to 158 all out, hockey starlet Daniel Faulkner (33) top scoring.
Hook & Newnham Basics II may have kissed goodbye to their promotion prospects after a high scoring three-wicket defeat by Portsmouth & Southsea.
But the defeat, largely inflicted on the back of a 155-run third-wicket stand by P & S pair Tom Benfield (88) and Mark Smith (70), wasn’t without it’s positives for Hook.
Teenager Jack Robson, pictured, notched a maiden HCL 108 and shared important stands with Joe Allnutt (36), Andy Darmondy (47) and Kerr Franklin (45) as Hook posted 266-8.
But totals are never easy to defend on the compact St James’s Park ground and despite a late flutter P & S got home with 15 balls to spare.
Matt Rogers, the Australian who began the season with back-to-back centuries, hasn’t been scoring so prolifically of late.
But the Canberra all-rounder hit 87 to underpin United Services’ 216 against Bishops Waltham at Burnaby Road.
Bishops were going nicely on the back of a second-wicket stand between Harry McGhee (66) and Andy Wakely (42).
But both got out in mid-innings before John Parker (5-33), who had earlier made an important late innings 36, ended their reply at 193 all out.
Ropley recovered from a shaky start with half-centuries by James Forrest (59) and South African Tim Niemand (59 not out) securing a seven-wicket win over County Division 1 rivals Burridge II.
Chasing down Burridge’s 188 (Seb Newens 3-25), principally built around Portsmouth Grammar School pair Alex Willoughby (41) and Ollie Wright (33), Ropley lost two early wickets, but Forrest knuckled down and built a match wining partnership with the South African all-rounder, who earlier took 3-50.
Niemand’s responsible and unbeaten 59 contained ten boundaries and gave Alex Stogden the freedom to crack eight of his nine scoring shots to the rope in his 34 not out.
New Milton have consolidating nicely in the top half, with Toby Edwards (65) and Matt Freeman (4-33) plotting the downfall of OTs & Romsey, who were bundled out for 78, having been asked to better their hosts’ 221-9.
Seven days after being humiliated and bowled out for an all-time HCL low score of 7 by United Services, Ellingham hit back with 289-8 (Mark Burrett 76) in their match at Shrewton.
But Ellingham still lost - as they did at Burnaby Road a week earlier !
Shrewton put the Ellingham bowlers to the sword, with Chris Brewer (98) and Stuart Cruse (65) tucking in during a total of 303-8.
Ventnor II eased their concerns and enhanced Sarisbury Athletic’s after bowling the mainlanders out for 175 (John Stewart-Hill 50) and winning by four wickets at Steephill.
Pierre Kriel’s 78, which included three sixes and nine fours, was crucial in Ventnor’s third win.
Andover seconds boosted their prospects of avoiding the drop back into CD2 when they chased down St Cross Symondians III’s 257-6 to win by seven wickets with nine overs to spare.
Steve Berryman (91) enjoyed prolific partnerships with Jon Aron (50) and Kelvin Lockwood (45), but their total was insufficient on the small Green Jackets second ground.
Andy Duckworth (78) and Olly Cox (84) led the way with a 117-run stand for Andover.

 

St Cross Symondians’ 4th XI understandably fancied their chances of pulling off an easy Hampshire League County Division 4 North victory when they reduced their Basingstoke & North Hants counterparts to 17-5.
But emerging from the Green Jackets pavilion at number seven for Basingstoke was a ‘blast from the past’ in local cricket who knows a thing or two about scoring runs. 
It was David Price, now 60, the fifth highest overall aggregate run scorer in Southern League cricket (before the advent of the ECB Premier League), making close on 7,000 runs at an average of 44.89.
He played through the 1980s and 1990s for Hythe & Dibden, Old Tauntonians and Bournemouth, winning the SL batting award in 1984 and helping OTs win the title five years later.
Price’s top job in the oil industry took his work to Europe and the USA but, playing off a low single-figure golf handicap, is now back living locally in Sutton Scotney and tip-toeing his way back into cricket with Basingstoke at May’s Bounty.
He showed he had lost none of his old run scoring touch by belting a boundary strewn century off a bemused St Cross Symondians attack – and turning the match on its head in the process.
Price hit four straight sixes and 11 fours in an innings of 101, which enabled Basingstoke to recover (from a later 45-7) and reach 170 before going on to bowl St Cross IVs out for 106.
His only glitch was to run out Basingstoke skipper Derek Dicker !

It’s developed into a three-horse race for the Hampshire League, County Division 1 title, with Purbrook and Portsmouth & Southsea still clinging on to Alton’s shirt-tails at the top.
Alton have won all eight games so far, including a significant victory over Purbrook, and enjoy a 16-point lead at the top.
They predictably ran amok against winless Totton, rattling up 331-5 with Richard Anthony (98), Andy Pearce (51) and Laurence Hughes (42) leading the way.
Stephen Ball (5-15) and Lee Partner (3-30) did the damage with the ball while only Dominic Newman (40), back on the UK scene after a decade or more away in Australia, and Liam Houghton (34) helped Totton limp to 143 all out.
Fareham & Crofton’s young side were no match for Purbrook, who were never in danger after posting 244-7, with James Holder cracking late 48 after Martin Lee (40), Brad Mengham (26) and John Moller (47) had done the initial spadework. Three wickets each for Aaron Dean and Ben Michel sent Fareham slipping to 158 all out, hockey starlet Daniel Faulkner (33) top scoring.
Hook & Newnham Basics II may have kissed goodbye to their promotion prospects after a high scoring three-wicket defeat by Portsmouth & Southsea.
But the defeat, largely inflicted on the back of a 155-run third-wicket stand by P & S pair Tom Benfield (88) and Mark Smith (70), wasn’t without it’s positives for Hook.
Teenager Jack Robson, pictured, notched a maiden HCL 108 and shared important stands with Joe Allnutt (36), Andy Darmondy (47) and Kerr Franklin (45) as Hook posted 266-8.
But totals are never easy to defend on the compact St James’s Park ground and despite a late flutter P & S got home with 15 balls to spare.
Matt Rogers, the Australian who began the season with back-to-back centuries, hasn’t been scoring so prolifically of late. But the Canberra all-rounder hit 87 to underpin United Services’ 216 against Bishops Waltham at Burnaby Road.
Bishops were going nicely on the back of a second-wicket stand between Harry McGhee (66) and Andy Wakely (42).
But both got out in mid-innings before John Parker (5-33), who had earlier made an important late innings 36, ended their reply at 193 all out.
Ropley recovered from a shaky start with half-centuries by James Forrest (59) and South African Tim Niemand (59 not out) securing a seven-wicket win over County Division 1 rivals Burridge II.
Chasing down Burridge’s 188 (Seb Newens 3-25), principally built around Portsmouth Grammar School pair Alex Willoughby (41) and Ollie Wright (33), Ropley lost two early wickets, but Forrest knuckled down and built a match wining partnership with the South African all-rounder, who earlier took 3-50.
Niemand’s responsible and unbeaten 59 contained ten boundaries and gave Alex Stogden the freedom to crack eight of his nine scoring shots to the rope in his 34 not out.
New Milton have consolidating nicely in the top half, with Toby Edwards (65) and Matt Freeman (4-33) plotting the downfall of OTs & Romsey, who were bundled out for 78, having been asked to better their hosts’ 221-9.
Seven days after being humiliated and bowled out for an all-time HCL low score of 7 by United Services, Ellingham hit back with 289-8 (Mark Burrett 76) in their match at Shrewton.
But Ellingham still lost - as they did at Burnaby Road a week earlier !
Shrewton put the Ellingham bowlers to the sword, with Chris Brewer (98) and Stuart Cruse (65) tucking in during a total of 303-8.
Ventnor II eased their concerns and enhanced Sarisbury Athletic’s after bowling the mainlanders out for 175 (John Stewart-Hill 50) and winning by four wickets at Steephill.
Pierre Kriel’s 78, which included three sixes and nine fours, was crucial in Ventnor’s third win.
Andover seconds boosted their prospects of avoiding the drop back into CD2 when they chased down St Cross Symondians III’s 257-6 to win by seven wickets with nine overs to spare.
Steve Berryman (91) enjoyed prolific partnerships with Jon Aron (50) and Kelvin Lockwood (45), but their total was insufficient on the small Green Jackets second ground.
Andy Duckworth (78) and Olly Cox (84) led the way with a 117-run stand for Andover.

 




 

Danny Mogg produced career-best seam bowling figures of 8-18 against St Cross Symondians III – only to have his efforts wrecked by the rain !
On the comeback trail for OTs & Romsey II after a back injury, Mogg knocked over the first four St Cross batsmen without a run on the board.  He finished with a staggering 8-18 return as the Winchester visitors were skittled for 44.  But then it rained......
OTs did everything in their power to mop up the Romsey Sports Centre surface but, just as their mop-up operation neared completion, the heavens opened and the County Division 1 match was abandoned.
Mogg now faces an anxious wait to see if his figures will count in the Hampshire League averages.
OTs & Romsey weren’t the only side to suffer from the weather, but leaders Alton side-stepped the black clouds and extended their lead at the top with a seven-wicket win over Andover at the Jubilee Ground.
Spinner Tom Paul took 5-34 as Andover, profiting from a sound start from Max Romer-Lee (39) and Hari Williams (39), dipped to 171 all out.
Alton too thrived on their openers, with Andy Postles (50) and Lawrence Hughes (48) providing the 110-run springboard for their seventh win in a row.
Winning when other sides around you either lose or are washed out is perfect - and Alton were able to consolidate their top position as Purbrook were among the clubs to be waterlogged.
Significantly, they were playing Portsmouth & Southsea, the side one place below them.
Purbrook made 186 through skipper Martin Lee (57) and Craig Harding (30), but saw their total trimmed and P & S left to get 151 off 41 overs.  It proved purely academic as the rains came at 35-2.
Shrewton’s bright start – they were among the fancied runners – has dimmed altogether, with Fareham & Crofton enjoying a comfortable away day win high up on Salisbury Plain.
Former Barton Peveril student Ben White and Matt Gould got four wickets each as Shrewton were dismissed for 155, Fareham generously gifting their hosts 38 in extras !
Sam Stothart and Viraat Sahu got 45 each to guide Fareham home by seven wickets.
The only other CD1 match to be completed saw Ropley recover from an uncertain start and beat visiting Bishops Waltham by six wickets.
Bishops’ 147 all out owed much to a late whirl from Harry Barrett (34), who built on an earlier and cautious approach from former KES student Harry McGhee (29) and Andy Wakely (28).
Ropley celebrated three direct-hit run-outs and, through inclement weather, saw their target reduced to 130 off 39 overs.
The chase wasn’t straight forward as Ropley lost two early wickets before South African Tim Niemand (59) played the match winning innings, which included four substantial sixes.

BATSMAN Charlie Pierson admitted US Portsmouth's bowlers had not offered any "freebies" after Ellingham were dismissed for just SEVEN runs.
The paltry innings set a record low for runs scored in the Hampshire Cricket League, surpassing the previous record of 11 set by Southampton Community in 2012.
Ellingham were set a revised target of 116 after their hosts had posted 120 in a rain-affected County Division One clash at Burnaby Road.
Opening batsmen and former Wales international footballer Andy Jones – who hit eight goals for Cherries during the 1990-91 season – went for nought and matters barely improved.
In fact, only three of Ellingham's batsmen managed to score a run, with the four runs earned from wides being the biggest contributor to the visitors' total.
Experienced Armed Forces XI representative swung bowler John Parker, pictured, enjoyed the spell of his life as he took six for one, while one-time Bashley footballer Fraser Quirke posted a remarkable four for six, with Ellingham bowled out inside 13 overs.
Pierson, who had stepped up from the seconds, admitted it had been a tough day at the office for Ellingham's batsmen.
Reflecting on a remarkable clash, he said: "After the first over of the US Portsmouth innings it started to rain and we carried on for about three overs before going off.
"Our opening bowlers couldn't grip the ball and there wasn't any swing or movement and the ball was skidding through nicely for the batsmen, and they got off to a fairly good start.
"As the pitch dried out through the innings, it got a lot harder to bat on and our second and third-team bowlers picked up the last five wickets for 10 runs.
"We knew 116 was going to be a big ask to chase down and both their opening bowlers were excellent.
"The guy who took six wickets (John Parker) swung it both ways at a good pace. Unfortunately, they didn't give us any freebies."
Despite the heavy defeat, which saw the final eight wickets fall for the gain of just two runs, Ellingham did earn five bowling points for their efforts.