Jack Marston was trapped leg before wicket just ten runs shy of a century against Portsmouth, but by the time Sparsholt dismissed him the city visitors were on the brink of an eight-wicket Southern Premier League Cup win.
Marston and left-hand opener Ben Duggan pinged fours and sixes all around the compact Locks Lane ground as Portsmouth raced past Sparsholt’s 164 with 1`5 overs to spare.
Marston cleared the boundary rope six times, alongside hitting 12 fours – 84 of his 90 runs coming in boundaries.
Duggan was a little more circumspect, hitting three sixes and two fours in his 50, the pair putting on 144 for the first wicket.
Joe Kooner-Evans and Harrison Webb shared six of the Sparsholt wickets, while Mike Haworth (39), Tom Foster (33) and Liam Doran (26) top scored for the Winchester club, who lost all seven of their East group League Cup matches.
Sparsholt's prospects of posting a competitive total effectively disappeared when they lost three quick wickets in mid-innings - a tidy 72-2 soon became 79-5 - before Haworth and Doran repaired the damage.
Marston and left-hand opener Ben Duggan pinged fours and sixes all around the compact Locks Lane ground as Portsmouth raced past Sparsholt’s 164 with 1`5 overs to spare.
Marston cleared the boundary rope six times, alongside hitting 12 fours – 84 of his 90 runs coming in boundaries.
Duggan was a little more circumspect, hitting three sixes and two fours in his 50, the pair putting on 144 for the first wicket.
Joe Kooner-Evans and Harrison Webb shared six of the Sparsholt wickets, while Mike Haworth (39), Tom Foster (33) and Liam Doran (26) top scored for the Winchester club, who lost all seven of their East group League Cup matches.
Sparsholt's prospects of posting a competitive total effectively disappeared when they lost three quick wickets in mid-innings - a tidy 72-2 soon became 79-5 - before Haworth and Doran repaired the damage.