Nineteen wickets fell for 225 runs at the Romsey Sports Centre, where Andover’s narrow nail biting win put Old Tauntonians & Romsey back in to the Southern Premier League Division One drop zone.
The wicket rush was even more dramatic considering that OTs collapsed from 82-6 to 111 all out, the last six batsmen mustering only half-a-dozen runs between them as Charlie Ayers ran amok, cleaning bowling four of his five victims.
Andover stumbled across the line with their last pair at the crease, having lost both openers with only five runs on the board.
“It soon became obvious that 100 was going to be a competitive score,” reflected Andover’s Ali Hooper. “The spinners were always going to do the damage.”
And so it proved, with former St Cross Symondians tweaker Charlie Ayres (5-27), Glynn Treagus (2-7) and Matt Hooper sending OTs into freefall, with eight wickets tumbling for a mere 25 runs.
Earlier, Joe Vaughan worked hard for his 43 and alongside Harry Tulk (24) got OTs into a decent position.
With just 111 OTs runs on the board, Andover's run chase appeared a straight-forward exercise on paper.
But overall, of the 82 overs bowled in the match, 16 were maidens, so the task was never going to be easy, especially when three wickets were down and only 16 runs on the board..
A watchful Glyn Treagus (28) used all his experience and played an excellent turn with the bat and with handy contributions from Ayers (14) and Robin Liney, Andover gradually inched their way along.
It was a vital 35-run partnership between Matt Hooper (13) and Matt Knight (23) that took the town side to 99 before another collapse left the nerves jangling once again.
With just one run required, Knight chipped to mid-on and was well caught, leaving Jansen and Mike Adams to find that last run for victory.
A trusted slog sweep over mid-wicket from Adams did the job for Andover in the 47th over- but it was a pretty close shave !
Charlie Ayers pictured (by Roy Honeybone) bowling for St Cross Symondians earlier this season.
The wicket rush was even more dramatic considering that OTs collapsed from 82-6 to 111 all out, the last six batsmen mustering only half-a-dozen runs between them as Charlie Ayers ran amok, cleaning bowling four of his five victims.
Andover stumbled across the line with their last pair at the crease, having lost both openers with only five runs on the board.
“It soon became obvious that 100 was going to be a competitive score,” reflected Andover’s Ali Hooper. “The spinners were always going to do the damage.”
And so it proved, with former St Cross Symondians tweaker Charlie Ayres (5-27), Glynn Treagus (2-7) and Matt Hooper sending OTs into freefall, with eight wickets tumbling for a mere 25 runs.
Earlier, Joe Vaughan worked hard for his 43 and alongside Harry Tulk (24) got OTs into a decent position.
With just 111 OTs runs on the board, Andover's run chase appeared a straight-forward exercise on paper.
But overall, of the 82 overs bowled in the match, 16 were maidens, so the task was never going to be easy, especially when three wickets were down and only 16 runs on the board..
A watchful Glyn Treagus (28) used all his experience and played an excellent turn with the bat and with handy contributions from Ayers (14) and Robin Liney, Andover gradually inched their way along.
It was a vital 35-run partnership between Matt Hooper (13) and Matt Knight (23) that took the town side to 99 before another collapse left the nerves jangling once again.
With just one run required, Knight chipped to mid-on and was well caught, leaving Jansen and Mike Adams to find that last run for victory.
A trusted slog sweep over mid-wicket from Adams did the job for Andover in the 47th over- but it was a pretty close shave !
Charlie Ayers pictured (by Roy Honeybone) bowling for St Cross Symondians earlier this season.
