Lion tamer. Liam Doran hits out [Bob Selley]
Liam Doran shone with bat and ball as Sparsholt launched their Southern Premier Division 1 campaign with a comfortable six-wicket win over Andover at London Road.
He took 3-34 with his off-spin and later hit an unbeaten half-century as Sparsholt chased down Andover’s 195-8 with eight overs to spare.
The Lions lost their top three inside six balls and were firmly on the back foot from 22-3 (Tom Ley 2-27) onwards.
From there, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Andover batsmen. Matt Knight (19) and Andrew Duckworth (20) rebuilt, both making positive starts, but that was to be the theme of the innings, with Andover’s middle order promising a lot but with no one going on to make that big score that they needed.
Nathan Birks (17) and Max Souter (25) demonstrated their big hitting potential, taking the score to 120 before both falling in quick succession to leave the tail to wag.
Skipper Matt Hooper (40*) took the game by the scruff of the neck and, with the support of Rowan Duckworth (24*), dragged the town side to a respectable total of 195-8 off their 40 overs, a total that didn’t seem possible after the poor start.
The Sparsholt response started in electric fashion with Stuart Taylor (45) blazing anything loose to the boundary, clearing the ropes on four occasions with some lusty blows. Rowan Duckworth continued a good day for him by removing Taylor and Josh May, to get Andover back in the game. Pick of the Andover bowlers, Babu Veetill, also took two wickets to reduce Sparsholt to 145-4, but with plenty of time to spare, that was as good as it got for the hosts.
An unbeaten 52 from Liam Doran, ably supported by Ashley Collinson (23*) and Lewis Mitchard, saw the visitors over the line, securing a comfortable 6 wicket win.
He took 3-34 with his off-spin and later hit an unbeaten half-century as Sparsholt chased down Andover’s 195-8 with eight overs to spare.
The Lions lost their top three inside six balls and were firmly on the back foot from 22-3 (Tom Ley 2-27) onwards.
From there, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Andover batsmen. Matt Knight (19) and Andrew Duckworth (20) rebuilt, both making positive starts, but that was to be the theme of the innings, with Andover’s middle order promising a lot but with no one going on to make that big score that they needed.
Nathan Birks (17) and Max Souter (25) demonstrated their big hitting potential, taking the score to 120 before both falling in quick succession to leave the tail to wag.
Skipper Matt Hooper (40*) took the game by the scruff of the neck and, with the support of Rowan Duckworth (24*), dragged the town side to a respectable total of 195-8 off their 40 overs, a total that didn’t seem possible after the poor start.
The Sparsholt response started in electric fashion with Stuart Taylor (45) blazing anything loose to the boundary, clearing the ropes on four occasions with some lusty blows. Rowan Duckworth continued a good day for him by removing Taylor and Josh May, to get Andover back in the game. Pick of the Andover bowlers, Babu Veetill, also took two wickets to reduce Sparsholt to 145-4, but with plenty of time to spare, that was as good as it got for the hosts.
An unbeaten 52 from Liam Doran, ably supported by Ashley Collinson (23*) and Lewis Mitchard, saw the visitors over the line, securing a comfortable 6 wicket win.
Stuart Taylor goes big for Sparsholt [Bob Selley]
