Life doesn’t get any easier for Sarisbury Athletic, who are in the middle of a run of demanding fixtures against the Southern Premier League leading Division One clubs.
Seven days after a 25-run loss at champions Calmore Sports, Sarisbury find themselves up against unbeaten leaders Hook & Newnham Basics.
Next week Ricky Rawlins takes his mid-table side to title favourites Bournemouth.
“Division 1 has always been a competitive league, but we’ve equipped ourselves okay so far with a creditable win at Portsmouth a couple of weeks ago,” Rawlins (left) said.
Teenager Jamie Dunn gets the call after scoring a half-century in the seconds last week.
Despite losing several key players, Hook are off to a flier, having won all four games.
Sarisbury Athletic: Rawlins, Clouting, Mills, Nightingale, J Hill, Ireland, Dunn, Sanders, Wright, S Hill, Jewell.
Second placed Bournemouth, with four wins out of five, recall left-arm all-rounder Dave Kidner against Portsmouth, who have managed only one victory in four attempts. Dan Conway is missing.
Kidner claimed 5-28 against Hartley Wintney for Lions on his most recent appearance.
Bournemouth skipper Chris Park wants all-rounder Simon Woodruff to showcase his “extreme” hitting in the middle order. The former Wimborne man had struggled to make runs having started the campaign batting at number three for the Chapel Gate outfit.
But a change to number six in Lions’ 107-run victory over Ventnor last time out saw Woodruff strike an impressive 55 from 48 deliveries.
Park said: “I was really pleased for Simon to come to the party. He has struggled for runs early season. I have chatted with him over the past couple of games and made the change of dropping him down from number three to five or six.
“Rather than going in at number three and being likely to face the new ball most weeks, it gives him a little more of a chance to express himself at the end of the innings.
“It helps with his strength, which is hitting the ball hard and in different areas. He played a couple of shots on Saturday which were absolutely extreme. “There were some reverse sweeps off the seamers over backward point and it was great. It was a brilliant end to the innings from him.”
Woodruff also proved a handy asset with the ball for Park’s men last season. He claimed 21 first-team wickets at an average of 18.62. A nagging back problem has restricted him to four overs this season but Park believes he could still be a useful asset.
“Simon is now back to fitness so we have to break him in gently with his bowling,” added Park. His back injury has settled down so he should be able to offer us a little bit with the ball as well moving forward.”
Park said: “We are looking good but there are some big games coming up against Portsmouth, Sarisbury and Hook. We will see where we are halfway through the season and look at the table then.”
Portsmouth lost by three runs in a thriller at Hook & Newnham Basics last week are without four-wicket Joe Kooner-Evans, who is replaced by Vikram Dawson. Left-hand opener Ben Duggan, who is in good nick, has been playing Second XI cricket for Somerset this week.
Calmore Sports go to Liphook & Ripsley, who host Easton & Martyr Worthy in the National Village Cup county final on Sunday, 1pm.
Mark Lavelle’s champions have won their last three games having brushed aside the player rust which was all too apparent when Ventnor beat them by 97 runs on the opening day of the season.
Calmore Sports: Lavelle, Hardy, Johns, Cook, Taylor, Proudley, Vann, Rose, West, Wright, Ducillier.
Spirits lifted by last week’s first win over Liphook, unchanged OTs & Romsey go to Hartley Wintney seeking a repeat of last season’s dramatic one-run win over the North Hampshire club, which secured the SPL2 title.
“I’m not sure any of us will ever play in anything so dramatic again. To win by one run is always going to be exciting, but when the title hinges on it ...” smiled OTs captain Jody Brown.
Hartley Wintney bid to end a run of three successive defeats which have soured their SPL1 start. They were rained off at Andover last week.
Hartley Wintney: Batcup, Kerr W, Kerr M, Beckwith, Rowland, Earney, Plume, Bowles, Teale, Wrenn, Ross.
OTs & Romsey: Smith, Mitchell-Lee, Vaughan, Tulk, Tognarelli, Brown, Newman, Trodd, Mogg, Folkestone, Bampton.
Seven days after a 25-run loss at champions Calmore Sports, Sarisbury find themselves up against unbeaten leaders Hook & Newnham Basics.
Next week Ricky Rawlins takes his mid-table side to title favourites Bournemouth.
“Division 1 has always been a competitive league, but we’ve equipped ourselves okay so far with a creditable win at Portsmouth a couple of weeks ago,” Rawlins (left) said.
Teenager Jamie Dunn gets the call after scoring a half-century in the seconds last week.
Despite losing several key players, Hook are off to a flier, having won all four games.
Sarisbury Athletic: Rawlins, Clouting, Mills, Nightingale, J Hill, Ireland, Dunn, Sanders, Wright, S Hill, Jewell.
Second placed Bournemouth, with four wins out of five, recall left-arm all-rounder Dave Kidner against Portsmouth, who have managed only one victory in four attempts. Dan Conway is missing.
Kidner claimed 5-28 against Hartley Wintney for Lions on his most recent appearance.
Bournemouth skipper Chris Park wants all-rounder Simon Woodruff to showcase his “extreme” hitting in the middle order. The former Wimborne man had struggled to make runs having started the campaign batting at number three for the Chapel Gate outfit.
But a change to number six in Lions’ 107-run victory over Ventnor last time out saw Woodruff strike an impressive 55 from 48 deliveries.
Park said: “I was really pleased for Simon to come to the party. He has struggled for runs early season. I have chatted with him over the past couple of games and made the change of dropping him down from number three to five or six.
“Rather than going in at number three and being likely to face the new ball most weeks, it gives him a little more of a chance to express himself at the end of the innings.
“It helps with his strength, which is hitting the ball hard and in different areas. He played a couple of shots on Saturday which were absolutely extreme. “There were some reverse sweeps off the seamers over backward point and it was great. It was a brilliant end to the innings from him.”
Woodruff also proved a handy asset with the ball for Park’s men last season. He claimed 21 first-team wickets at an average of 18.62. A nagging back problem has restricted him to four overs this season but Park believes he could still be a useful asset.
“Simon is now back to fitness so we have to break him in gently with his bowling,” added Park. His back injury has settled down so he should be able to offer us a little bit with the ball as well moving forward.”
Park said: “We are looking good but there are some big games coming up against Portsmouth, Sarisbury and Hook. We will see where we are halfway through the season and look at the table then.”
Portsmouth lost by three runs in a thriller at Hook & Newnham Basics last week are without four-wicket Joe Kooner-Evans, who is replaced by Vikram Dawson. Left-hand opener Ben Duggan, who is in good nick, has been playing Second XI cricket for Somerset this week.
Calmore Sports go to Liphook & Ripsley, who host Easton & Martyr Worthy in the National Village Cup county final on Sunday, 1pm.
Mark Lavelle’s champions have won their last three games having brushed aside the player rust which was all too apparent when Ventnor beat them by 97 runs on the opening day of the season.
Calmore Sports: Lavelle, Hardy, Johns, Cook, Taylor, Proudley, Vann, Rose, West, Wright, Ducillier.
Spirits lifted by last week’s first win over Liphook, unchanged OTs & Romsey go to Hartley Wintney seeking a repeat of last season’s dramatic one-run win over the North Hampshire club, which secured the SPL2 title.
“I’m not sure any of us will ever play in anything so dramatic again. To win by one run is always going to be exciting, but when the title hinges on it ...” smiled OTs captain Jody Brown.
Hartley Wintney bid to end a run of three successive defeats which have soured their SPL1 start. They were rained off at Andover last week.
Hartley Wintney: Batcup, Kerr W, Kerr M, Beckwith, Rowland, Earney, Plume, Bowles, Teale, Wrenn, Ross.
OTs & Romsey: Smith, Mitchell-Lee, Vaughan, Tulk, Tognarelli, Brown, Newman, Trodd, Mogg, Folkestone, Bampton.
