Basingstoke & North Hants have given their prospects of playing top flight ECB British Gas Southern Premier Division cricket next season an enormous boost.
Having trounced Hook & Newnham Basics by eight wickets in the North Hampshire derby, their promotion hopes got a double boost with leaders Calmore Sports losing at Portsmouth and bottom of the pile Sarisbury Athletic toppling Bournemouth.
Former Hampshire and Kent pace bowler David Griffiths, left, and Martyn James ran amok on a May’s Bounty ‘green top’ where Hook’s first three batsmen Ben Thane, Josh Buckingham and Matt Love were removed for ducks.
Winners of their previous five matches, Hook lost six wickets for only six runs – four of them to Griffiths (5-23) and two to James (3-8), who sent down 47 ‘dot balls’ before Rhodes Franklin edged him through the slips for a boundary.
With eight wickets down and only 16 runs on the board, Hook were bracing themselves for an unwanted entry in the Premier League annals for the lowest-ever total.
But 16-year old Rupert Armstrong and Aniket Divecha both made 19 before Mitch Stokes (2-14) wrapped the innings up at 53 all out in the 25th over.
Griffiths celebrated his second consecutive SPL1 nap hand, while James’s spell, which included seven successive maidens, was one of the meanest in recent years.
Basingstoke’s reply reached 12, before opener Dan Belcher (11) departed, caught by Matt Buckingham for a Divecha wicket. Basingstoke skipper Stokes (29) and Max Harsham (9 not out) moved the home side right to within sight of the finish line.
Having trounced Hook & Newnham Basics by eight wickets in the North Hampshire derby, their promotion hopes got a double boost with leaders Calmore Sports losing at Portsmouth and bottom of the pile Sarisbury Athletic toppling Bournemouth.
Former Hampshire and Kent pace bowler David Griffiths, left, and Martyn James ran amok on a May’s Bounty ‘green top’ where Hook’s first three batsmen Ben Thane, Josh Buckingham and Matt Love were removed for ducks.
Winners of their previous five matches, Hook lost six wickets for only six runs – four of them to Griffiths (5-23) and two to James (3-8), who sent down 47 ‘dot balls’ before Rhodes Franklin edged him through the slips for a boundary.
With eight wickets down and only 16 runs on the board, Hook were bracing themselves for an unwanted entry in the Premier League annals for the lowest-ever total.
But 16-year old Rupert Armstrong and Aniket Divecha both made 19 before Mitch Stokes (2-14) wrapped the innings up at 53 all out in the 25th over.
Griffiths celebrated his second consecutive SPL1 nap hand, while James’s spell, which included seven successive maidens, was one of the meanest in recent years.
Basingstoke’s reply reached 12, before opener Dan Belcher (11) departed, caught by Matt Buckingham for a Divecha wicket. Basingstoke skipper Stokes (29) and Max Harsham (9 not out) moved the home side right to within sight of the finish line.
