Havant put the seal on a second consecutive British Gas Southern Premier League title triumph with a seven-wicket victory at Lymington.
Needing 18 points be certain of an eighth championship overall, Havant rolled Lymington over for 106 and knocked off the runs with 27 overs to spare.
It was the seventh time in succession Havant had chased down an opposition target – each victory margin being by seven wickets or more.
Elated skipper Ben Walker, whose unbeaten 33 at the Sports Ground ensured he finished top Premier Division run scorer for the second consecutive season, led a remarkable second half of the season turnaround into a Havant title triumph.
“Who would have thought on June 24 we’d be toasting another title,” he asked ?
“We’d just got hammered by 151 runs at South Wilts and 24 hours later Normandy (who went on to win the Surrey Championship) beat us by a similarly crushing margin in the national knockout.
“We picked ourselves up with a ‘winning draw’ against Lymington a week later – and then hit a remarkable winning patch, chasing down totals to win seven on the trot and go on and win the league.”
Havant didn’t make the best of starts to either session in their final match at Lymington, who had 43 runs on the board in no time before suffering a massive collapse.
Openers Terry Crabb (27) and Ben Rogers (26) pierced the boundary rope 11 times.
Rogers fell at 43, but Crabb’s departure at 62-1 prompted a playing card collapse – six wickets falling for ten runs against spin duo Richard Hindley (3-12) and Chris Morgan (3-16), pictured by Roy Honeybone.
Simon Beetham (18) and Kieran Moors stopped the rot by the return of seamer Richard Jerry (3-24) brought the Lymington innings to a close at 106.
Havant promptly lost opening pair Stu Ransley and Andy Gorvin, but those two wickets were about the only successes Lymington enjoyed in the post-tea session.
Walker (33 not out) and Chris Stone (27) steadied the ship before Rob Gibson (33 not out) emerged from the pavilion to complete the formalities.
Needing 18 points be certain of an eighth championship overall, Havant rolled Lymington over for 106 and knocked off the runs with 27 overs to spare.
It was the seventh time in succession Havant had chased down an opposition target – each victory margin being by seven wickets or more.
Elated skipper Ben Walker, whose unbeaten 33 at the Sports Ground ensured he finished top Premier Division run scorer for the second consecutive season, led a remarkable second half of the season turnaround into a Havant title triumph.
“Who would have thought on June 24 we’d be toasting another title,” he asked ?
“We’d just got hammered by 151 runs at South Wilts and 24 hours later Normandy (who went on to win the Surrey Championship) beat us by a similarly crushing margin in the national knockout.
“We picked ourselves up with a ‘winning draw’ against Lymington a week later – and then hit a remarkable winning patch, chasing down totals to win seven on the trot and go on and win the league.”
Havant didn’t make the best of starts to either session in their final match at Lymington, who had 43 runs on the board in no time before suffering a massive collapse.
Openers Terry Crabb (27) and Ben Rogers (26) pierced the boundary rope 11 times.
Rogers fell at 43, but Crabb’s departure at 62-1 prompted a playing card collapse – six wickets falling for ten runs against spin duo Richard Hindley (3-12) and Chris Morgan (3-16), pictured by Roy Honeybone.
Simon Beetham (18) and Kieran Moors stopped the rot by the return of seamer Richard Jerry (3-24) brought the Lymington innings to a close at 106.
Havant promptly lost opening pair Stu Ransley and Andy Gorvin, but those two wickets were about the only successes Lymington enjoyed in the post-tea session.
Walker (33 not out) and Chris Stone (27) steadied the ship before Rob Gibson (33 not out) emerged from the pavilion to complete the formalities.
