George Metzger hit a stylish and undefeated 92 to steer Basingstoke & North Hants to a six-wicket win over Portsmouth on Southsea seafront and into a challenging third place in Southern Premier Division 1.
It was Stoke’s seventh straight win – one that keeps them within striking distance of Totton & Eling, who are 22 points clear at the top with four matches left.
Totton remain top after a six-wicket win at Sarisbury Athletic, while New Milton stay three points above Basingstoke, who have leapfrogged Calmore Sports, who came a cropper at Rowledge.
“We could do with Totton losing one of those last four games, that’s for sure, but all we can do is keep winning and that we’re doing very nicely at the moment,” beamed Basingstoke skipper Dan Belcher.
“George underlined his quality in our run chase and clearly enjoyed the time he spent in the middle as we chased down Portsmouth’s 174 to win with ten overs to spare.”
Metzger, pictured above, who spent the initial two months of the season at Havant, hasn’t enjoyed too much batting time this summer, but he cashed in at St Helen’s, scoring his 92 off 53 balls, hitting two sixes and ten fours in the process.
He thumped 20 runs off Henry Woolf’s solitary over and was particularly severe on spinner Jono Brook, whose errant leg-stump line was punished.
Basingstoke wobbled a little, Belcher (28) being among three wickets to fall for 27 runs at one point, but two maximums over long-on from Dean Nurse (25) ended any faint hopes Portsmouth had.
Brad Neal (2-16 off eight overs) was the pick of the Basingstoke bowlers as only Dan Wallis, with an unbeaten 78, made any real impression in Portsmouth’s 174-6.
It was Stoke’s seventh straight win – one that keeps them within striking distance of Totton & Eling, who are 22 points clear at the top with four matches left.
Totton remain top after a six-wicket win at Sarisbury Athletic, while New Milton stay three points above Basingstoke, who have leapfrogged Calmore Sports, who came a cropper at Rowledge.
“We could do with Totton losing one of those last four games, that’s for sure, but all we can do is keep winning and that we’re doing very nicely at the moment,” beamed Basingstoke skipper Dan Belcher.
“George underlined his quality in our run chase and clearly enjoyed the time he spent in the middle as we chased down Portsmouth’s 174 to win with ten overs to spare.”
Metzger, pictured above, who spent the initial two months of the season at Havant, hasn’t enjoyed too much batting time this summer, but he cashed in at St Helen’s, scoring his 92 off 53 balls, hitting two sixes and ten fours in the process.
He thumped 20 runs off Henry Woolf’s solitary over and was particularly severe on spinner Jono Brook, whose errant leg-stump line was punished.
Basingstoke wobbled a little, Belcher (28) being among three wickets to fall for 27 runs at one point, but two maximums over long-on from Dean Nurse (25) ended any faint hopes Portsmouth had.
Brad Neal (2-16 off eight overs) was the pick of the Basingstoke bowlers as only Dan Wallis, with an unbeaten 78, made any real impression in Portsmouth’s 174-6.
