A 15-year-old Rowledge tailender produced a match-winning innings as Portsmouth lost a last-ball thriller in their Southern Premier League curtain-raiser.
They had looked on course for victory at Church Road, with the hosts still 100 short of their target when their sixth wicket fell at 119.
But schoolboy Olly Ryman - who was making his SPL Division 1 debut, having not even played a second team match - came in at eight to help rescue the situation.
He helped Jake Wish (83) to add 78 for the seventh wicket and along with 20-year-old Max Martin (10 not out) an unbroken 22 for the eighth wicket.
Rowledge required 82 off the last 10 overs and 56 off the last six. They started the last over - bowled by Hemanshu Herani - needing nine. They only required one off the last three balls and, after two dots, scampered the winning run off the last delivery.
Ryman, who is taught maths by Rowledge skipper Ben Wish at Farnham’s Weydon School, finished unbeaten on 47 from 41 balls with six fours and a six as his side triumphed by three wickets.
Portsmouth were left to rue giving away 19 wides in a total of 33 extras.
Left-hander Wish had held the Rowledge top order together after opener (and Spurs fan) Ricky Yates and Odiham & Greywell teen Zak Le Roux had been dismissed without scoring.
Andrew Marston (2-33) and Herani (2-27) were Portsmouth’s chief wicket-takers on a scorecard where Rowledge youngster Ethan Martin was dismissed for handling the ball.
Earlier, opener Jack Marston (53) and James Christian (39) had provided top order runs before Will Smitherman thumped four fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 56 off 46 balls. The News.
They had looked on course for victory at Church Road, with the hosts still 100 short of their target when their sixth wicket fell at 119.
But schoolboy Olly Ryman - who was making his SPL Division 1 debut, having not even played a second team match - came in at eight to help rescue the situation.
He helped Jake Wish (83) to add 78 for the seventh wicket and along with 20-year-old Max Martin (10 not out) an unbroken 22 for the eighth wicket.
Rowledge required 82 off the last 10 overs and 56 off the last six. They started the last over - bowled by Hemanshu Herani - needing nine. They only required one off the last three balls and, after two dots, scampered the winning run off the last delivery.
Ryman, who is taught maths by Rowledge skipper Ben Wish at Farnham’s Weydon School, finished unbeaten on 47 from 41 balls with six fours and a six as his side triumphed by three wickets.
Portsmouth were left to rue giving away 19 wides in a total of 33 extras.
Left-hander Wish had held the Rowledge top order together after opener (and Spurs fan) Ricky Yates and Odiham & Greywell teen Zak Le Roux had been dismissed without scoring.
Andrew Marston (2-33) and Herani (2-27) were Portsmouth’s chief wicket-takers on a scorecard where Rowledge youngster Ethan Martin was dismissed for handling the ball.
Earlier, opener Jack Marston (53) and James Christian (39) had provided top order runs before Will Smitherman thumped four fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 56 off 46 balls. The News.