Havant seconds took an emphatic step towards being crowned Hampshire League Division 1 champions - without even playing their penultimate match !
Their scheduled home match with Longparish was called off late on Saturday morning, enabling them to maintain a healthy 21 points per match average which none of their challengers  will be able to match if Havant win their final match at Easton & Martyr Worthy.
Parley's five-wicket defeat by Sway has kept the promotion door ajar for Fareham & Crofton, who could snatch an unlikely second place if they score a big win at St Cross Symondians III.
Fareham have been worse hit than Havant II in terms of cancellations. Havant were weather hit seven times; Fareham also on seven occasions, with two more games called off due to covid issues in the opposition camp.  
Nine 'no resuts' in a 17 match summer represents over half the scheduled matches - and a serious loss of income.
Fareham vent their frustrations on Burridge II, Dan Wimble (pictured above) smashing 93 as the Bath Lane club chased down 169-8 (Jack Paskins 56) to win by eight wickets.
Sarang Urankar hit a century as Bournemouth II posted 219-7 (Freddie Oldfield 44) against Compton & Chandler's Ford, who fell from 95-2 to 175-7 once Ethan Sharpe (51) and Liam Palmer (47) wer parted. 
Jonny Coombs also looked set for a treble figure score, but was dismissed for 27, agonisingly 73 runs short of a century.
Nicky Wyatt (48) and Ish Ahmad (47) came close to fifties in Portsmouth's 187-9, which proved too many for Easton & Martyr Worthy (153 all out).
Tom Doherty's 5-20 return put Hursley Park in the driving seat against St Cross Symondians (139), but the outcome was in the balance as HP slipped to 62-5.  Jai Solanki (30) and Oli Green (27)  restored parity.
Lymington lurched closer to relegation with a four-wicket defeat by Old Basing.  They looked set for the drop alongside already demoted Andover II.

​A CAPTAIN’S knock from Tim Noble (41 not out) and a swashbuckling cameo from Hugh Bernard ensured Sway won their crunch game against fellow high-flyers Parley, opening up the possibility of promotion into the Southern Premier League for the first time in the club’s history.
Noble led his side home with a patient and assured knock against a very decent and disciplined Parley attack, before Bernard came to the crease and launched 24 off just 12 balls to ensure Sway chased down 154 with 15 balls to win by five wickets with 15 balls to spare.
Will Crossley (27) and Alex Hall (15) had done sterling work to lay the platform for the win, with help from Dan Bailey and David Steadman, before Bernard walked to the crease like a man on a mission smacking his first ball to the boundary, and a towering six soon after.
Noble finished the job alongside Jon Grasham, smacking a lovely cover drive to the boundary to set off wild celebrations.
The batting backed up an assured bowling display, with Jon Waller (2-29) and Steadman (2-31) making some early inroads, Steadman producing a breathtaking catch off his own bowling to dismiss the dangerous Roshan Embalagama.
Marcus Braggington battled hard for the visitors and struck a well-made 47 before hitting the impressive Bernard to Waller in the covers; Bernard took 2-21 to finish with a terrific 27 wickets overall, a total likely to make him the league’s most successful bowler in his debut season.
Grasham (1-21) continued his fine form with an assured spell – including dismissing Ollie Green for 35 – while the excellent Dan Bailey (3-27), mopped up some late wickets to reach 25 scalps for the season.
Sway usurped Parley into second place with the win but do not play again this year . They can however, be caught by Fareham – who now lie third, despite playing only seven games so far this season – and due to Bedhampton's pre-season withdrawal to St Cross Symondians III next week needing a 23-point win or more.

Andover, Burridge and Lymington second teams, along with Easton & Martyr Worthy, are all struggling to stay afloat in the Division 1 relegation zone.
The quartet all lost their round 15 matches, with Andover going down by 92 runs at promotion chasing Parley, where Shane Green (49) and Tom Saunders (52) top scored in the hosts 203-6. Andover rolled over for 111, with teenage spinner Spencer Savage taking 4-21.
Burridge lost by five wickets to Hursley Park after collapsing from a healthy 112-2 to 160 all out – a total Hursley polished off with Matt Branford (71 not out) improving on opener Tom Flynn’s 44.
Lymington suffered a 50-run home defeat by Fareham & Crofton, who boast a very healthy points per match average, even though through rain and covid call-offs they are no where near playing half their scheduled number of games.
Dan Wheble, with 32 and a 4-36 return with the ball, had a decent game for Fareham, who comfortably defended 191 (Tom Kent 44) by bowling Lymington out for 141, Jack Morris (38) and Tom Sykes (30) doing their best for the losers.
Table topping Havant, like Fareham & Crofton, have suffered only one defeat in their truncated summer. They were without a round 15 game due to Bedhampton’s prep-season withdrawal.
Sway warmed up for their meeting with Parley next week with a 33-run win at Alton, who chasing the visitors’ 239-8 were going nicely at 110-2 on the back of Ryan Hale’s 96 and an unbeaten 38 from Ellis Ballinger, teenage son of Julian.   But the last seven wickets fell for 94 and Alton closed 206-9.
Earlier, Alex Hall (69) and Tim Noble (35) provided a sound start for Sway, who benefitted from an unbeaten 43 from Neil Prince to get them to 239-8.
An unbroken 86-run partnership between Sarang Urankar (79) and Freddie Oldfield (47) cemented Bournemouth’s 225 against Easton & Martyr Worthy, dismissed for 146.
Charlie Preston was the star of St Cross Symondians’ five-wicket win over near neighbours Compton & Chandler’s Ford.  He took 6-28 with the ball as CCF were bowled out for 170 (Liam Palmer 38) and then made an unbeaten 30 to help Blair Brown (41) chase down the runs.
Longparish were well placed at 131-2 (Scott Sturt 45) and later 172-4, but lost heir last six wickets for 25 runs and were 197 all out against Portsmouth II, who won by five wickets.  
The ever promIsing Matt Shaw and Indie Chakrabarti made half-centuries for Portsmouth, while the exciting Matt Walton took 4-25 for the city slickers.

SWAY’S unbeaten season – and probably their Division One title hopes - went up in smoke at Winton – as the top of the table visitors were upset in challenging conditions.  
Having been put into bat, Sway made slow progress with openers Tim Noble (48) and Alex Hall (22) batting valiantly against some accurate bowling and putting on 45.
From then on Sway struggled to a disappointing 98 amid a combination of indifferent batting, decent bowling and the tricky surface. 
Sam Thomson, the former Bashley (Rydal) and Dorset offie, with 3-6 off six overs and Charlie May (3-20) excelled with the ball.
When Winton were reduced to 24-3 – that’s one more than the entire team scored at & Crofton the previous week - through Hugh Bernard and Jon Waller, the visitors had a sniff; however, despite an excellent showing from Dan Bailey, with two wickets, and smart catches from Noble and Neil Prince, it ended up being a dispiriting away day for the deposed HL leaders. 
Joe May (27) stepped in before John Duke (21) and Nick Nineham (26) got Winton across the line.
Sway’s first defeat enabled Havant II to climb to top place – a position they could easily hold on to with only Longparish and Easton & Martyr Worthy left to play.

The cancellation of their key match with second placed Parley – no surprise after the deluge that hit PO-land in the early hours of Saturday – meant both clubs held their respective 20.88 and 20 points per match averages, compared with Sway’s now reduced 19.58.
Fareham might well have complicated matters further had their home match with Old Basing gone the distance.  They were flying at 232-7 at Bath Lane when play was abandoned an over before the tea break.
A Wimble, run out with 91, and Sam Stoddart (78) shared a 154-run stand.
So, after 14 rounds of fixtures, Fareham & Crofton have still only managed to complete FOUR matches.  If they win their last three games against Lymington II, Burridge II and St Cross Symondians III they could feature in the promotion race !
Sam Collins struck a timely and back to form 83 not out as a strengthened Bournemouth chased down Longparish’s 196 to win by seven wickets.
Mike Taplin hit 80 for Parish, with Tom Robinson taking 4-37 for Bournemouth, who included Dorset left-hand all-rounder Simon Woodruff in their ranks and struck a boundary strewn 78.
Have kit, will play Jonny Coombs (24) opened. His ambition this season is to play in all five of Bournemouth’s Hampshire League sides.  Only the fourth team have so far gone without his charismatic input.
Lymington II also called up Southern Premier Division personnel for the trip to soggy Hursley Park, where Dan Cox made the most of his trip from the Isle of Wight to make 69 before the rains came.
St Cross Symondians III found themselves in the drop zone for the first time ​when Easton & Martyr Worthy beat them by seven wickets.
Wobbling at 46-6, St Cross reached 142 through James Burridge (35) and Brad Aldridge, but saw their reduced target score of 122 blown away as Nick Boulton (48*) and Ben Stanbrook (37) swept EMW home with stacks of time to spare.
Desperate for win points, Andover seconds were denied at Alton, where the Brewers were 67-5 when play was abandoned.
Compton & Chandler's Ford were washed out completely against Burridge II. 

Fareham & Crofton waited 41 days to kick start their ill-fated Division 1 campaign - they have suffered seven either weather hit or covid related cancellations, plus a welcome abandonment at Parley - but when they eventually took the field again, their match with Winton was all done and dusted in a mere 16.4 overs !
That's how long it took Fareham to bowl their Bournemouth visitors (who pitched at Bath Lane with only ten men and no umpire or scorer) out for a paltry 23 and knock off the runs to record a ten-wicket victory.
Only five Fareham players were able to make a meaningful contribution.
Skipper James Headen ran Winton's opening batsman out for nought, then Ben White weighed in with a 6-16 return and new signing Conor Clark took 2-8 and caught the last wicket. 
​Six Winton dismissals were bowled. Five batsmen bagged ducks. Their innings was all over in 13.3 overs.  Their 23 ao was the second lowest Division 1 total behind Longparish with 21 in 1996.
It took Fareham 19 balls to complete the formalities - Dan Wimble hitting 19 of the runs they required.

It’s crunch time for champions Parley as – weather permitting - the Hampshire League Division 1 title race reaches its business phase.
Two games in the next three weeks - starting at Havant on Saturday and then Sway on August 21 – will decide if they can make the jump into Southern Premier Division 3 cricket in 2022.
With four rounds of matches remaining, its tight at the top, with Sway – despite having won all 11 games – only three points of Havant, with Parley tucked into third place, ten points behind.
But the weather, which has so far claimed 31 postponements in addition to four rain abandonments, is clearly going to play a key role in who goes up – and who doesn’t.
Havant were hit by the rain at the Jubilee, where they looked a good bet to win after bowling Alton seconds out for 107.  They were 21-1 when the elements struck.
Rain also interfered with Sway’s home game with relegation threatened Andover seconds – D/L calculations creating a closer game than the New Forest club might have envisaged.
A century partnership between Alex Hall (47) and Will Crossley (63) largely set up Sway’s 212-9 – Hugo Chandler (24) giving things a late biff, 20 of his runs coming in boundaries.
Aiden Jansen took a creditable 5-34 for Andover, whose target was reduced to 155 off 27 overs.
With Huw Bernard and Jon Waller absent, Sway’s attack lacked its usual bite and Andover came within 26 runs of the target, finishing with 128-5.
Ever popular left-hand bat/wicketkeeper Roshan Emblagama celebrated his first HCL century since June 2014 – 103 at Verwood in County 4 South – as Parley racked up 249-5 against visiting Portsmouth II.
He shared a century fifth-wicket stand with Oli Green, whose unbeaten 58 included two sixes and seven fours.
Beaten by 107 runs, Portsmouth II mustered a modest 145, with Green swapping bat for ball and taking 3-20.
Hursley Park reached 87-2 before a 4-17 return by Sat Pal sent them stumbling to 111 all out and an eventual five-wicket defeat at Old Basing.
But the Basingstoke club were indebted to Ben Ungaretti, whose unbeaten 54 steered them through choppy waters created when Hursley’s Tom James took 4-12 to reduce them to 16-4.
St Cross Symondians III, having been 21-6, were dismissed for 90 by Longparish, who won by six wickets with Will de Cani making 38 not out.
Easton & Martyr Worthy are easing their way out of relegation trouble – their 44-run victory planting Burridge firmly in the bottom two.
Will Wickham (70) top scored as they made 210-8 (Alex Spearing 36, Adam Kite 33), while former Gosport Borough cricketer Simon Creal (48) made his mark as Burridge made 166 in reply.
Compton & Chandler’s Ford made round 13’s highest score, 257-6 against Lymington II, who used NINE different bowlers – Simon Naylor being the only out-fielder not to be invited to turn his arm over !  
In-form Andy Gorty cashed in with a 13-boundary 94 not out, while Liam McCory (45) was the only Lymington batsman to shine.  He’s the wicketkeeper, so also didn’t bowl …