Matt Bampton in five-wicket mode ...Terry Jamieson
ld Tauntonians & Romsey and Hartley Wintney face a head-to-head shoot-out for the British Gas Southern League Division 2 championship crown on the North Hampshire club’s historic Village Green on Saturday.
Whoever wins will be champions, with the losers the likely runners-up, such is the points differential between third place.
OTs are effectively seven points clear after a comfortable 78-run win at Paultons, but bonuses won’t come into it on Saturday.
Steve Smith (37), Joe Vaughan (34), Peter Newman (30) and Charlie King (29) ensured a total of 217-8 would be sufficient for OTs at Whitemoor Lane.
Paultons, whose batting has been their Achilles heel all summer, immediately run into trouble against the left-arm spin of Matt Bampton, pictured, who took a league best 5-28 as the hosts dropped to 87-6.
Only Tony Richman (36) put up much resistance as teenage leg spinner Vaughan (3-39) and Pete Newman (2-29) ran through the remainder of the batting to leave Paultons 139 all out.
The player OTs must fear in the title showdown is New Zealander Henry Collier, who smashed an unbeaten 151 in Hartley Wintney’s seven-wicket destruction of Langley Manor.
South African Saulieg Rayned (58) hit a half-century as the Manor posted 254- but the target was arguably 100 or more too few as Collier (below) fired Hartley across the finish line with 11 overs to spare.
The Kiwi blitzed 151 – to lift his season’s aggregate to 864 – and featured strongly in an opening stand of 165 with Farnborough College student Will Kerr, who plundered a quick fire 66.
Whoever wins will be champions, with the losers the likely runners-up, such is the points differential between third place.
OTs are effectively seven points clear after a comfortable 78-run win at Paultons, but bonuses won’t come into it on Saturday.
Steve Smith (37), Joe Vaughan (34), Peter Newman (30) and Charlie King (29) ensured a total of 217-8 would be sufficient for OTs at Whitemoor Lane.
Paultons, whose batting has been their Achilles heel all summer, immediately run into trouble against the left-arm spin of Matt Bampton, pictured, who took a league best 5-28 as the hosts dropped to 87-6.
Only Tony Richman (36) put up much resistance as teenage leg spinner Vaughan (3-39) and Pete Newman (2-29) ran through the remainder of the batting to leave Paultons 139 all out.
The player OTs must fear in the title showdown is New Zealander Henry Collier, who smashed an unbeaten 151 in Hartley Wintney’s seven-wicket destruction of Langley Manor.
South African Saulieg Rayned (58) hit a half-century as the Manor posted 254- but the target was arguably 100 or more too few as Collier (below) fired Hartley across the finish line with 11 overs to spare.
The Kiwi blitzed 151 – to lift his season’s aggregate to 864 – and featured strongly in an opening stand of 165 with Farnborough College student Will Kerr, who plundered a quick fire 66.
