Sarisbury Athletic’s arrival at the top table of ECB Southern Electric Premier League cricket is proving quite a real talking point.
Crowned Division 1 champions after a frenetic finale to the 2014 campaign, Sarisbury experienced problems galore when their Allotment Road ground was declared unplayable after a firm of contractors dumped sand on the outfield.
Their eventual Premier Division bow – on Hursley Park’s borrowed headquarters – was equally dramatic.
Their curtain raiser with Alton ended in a tie!
Each side scored 230, with a run out off the last ball of the Alton innings squaring the game.
“It was an exciting game. We were disappointed, yet relieved to get the tie,” said Sarisbury skipper Dave Banks.
Sarisbury made a promising start with opener Ricky Rawlins (51) and Zimbabwean Ryan Burl (44) taking the score to 118-2, but things slipped away in the middle, with Juliam Ballinger (3-36) making inroads after earlier strikes by leg spinner Jack Myers (2-41).
Left-hander Jack Lovett later led Sarisbury from 172-7 to an eventual 230 all out.
Alex Hammond (61) and Michael Heffernan (21) gave Alton a 50-run launch, but the main danger came from Scott Myers, whose 85 took the visitors to 200-5 and within sight of victory.
But a triple strike by former Liphook & Ripsley all-rounder Ryan Covey (3-26) tilted it in Sarisbury’s balance.
It was Covey who bowled the final over with Alton – on 226-7 – needing five runs to win.
Two dot balls were followed by the wicket of Tom Salmon (226-8), then a single.
Three byes off Covey’s penultimate ball tied the scores – but Julian Ballinger was run out off the last ball as Alton needed one run to win.
Crowned Division 1 champions after a frenetic finale to the 2014 campaign, Sarisbury experienced problems galore when their Allotment Road ground was declared unplayable after a firm of contractors dumped sand on the outfield.
Their eventual Premier Division bow – on Hursley Park’s borrowed headquarters – was equally dramatic.
Their curtain raiser with Alton ended in a tie!
Each side scored 230, with a run out off the last ball of the Alton innings squaring the game.
“It was an exciting game. We were disappointed, yet relieved to get the tie,” said Sarisbury skipper Dave Banks.
Sarisbury made a promising start with opener Ricky Rawlins (51) and Zimbabwean Ryan Burl (44) taking the score to 118-2, but things slipped away in the middle, with Juliam Ballinger (3-36) making inroads after earlier strikes by leg spinner Jack Myers (2-41).
Left-hander Jack Lovett later led Sarisbury from 172-7 to an eventual 230 all out.
Alex Hammond (61) and Michael Heffernan (21) gave Alton a 50-run launch, but the main danger came from Scott Myers, whose 85 took the visitors to 200-5 and within sight of victory.
But a triple strike by former Liphook & Ripsley all-rounder Ryan Covey (3-26) tilted it in Sarisbury’s balance.
It was Covey who bowled the final over with Alton – on 226-7 – needing five runs to win.
Two dot balls were followed by the wicket of Tom Salmon (226-8), then a single.
Three byes off Covey’s penultimate ball tied the scores – but Julian Ballinger was run out off the last ball as Alton needed one run to win.
