Please, please, please ? Sarisbury Athletic spinner Rob Franklin pleads (unsuccessfully) for a leg before decision. The News.
Sarisbury Athletic lost by 30 runs to Portsmouth, but with four weeks of the season remaining, enjoy a 14-point lead over Alton - only the Division 1 champions win promotion to the Premier Division.
Asked to chase 238 for victory, Sarisbury reached 105-3 before losing the key wicket of leading runscorer, left-hander Sam Floyd (38).
That brought Nathan Feltham to the crease, whose middle order runs have been a feature of Sarisbury’s promotion challenge.
He struck 61 off 62 balls - with seven fours and three sixes - before Reuban McArdle (3-53) had him caught by James Christian to make the score 187-8. They were eventually all out for 207, to lose by 30 runs.
It had been a consistent batting effort by Portsmouth, who reached 237-9 without any batter contributing a half-century.
Joe Kooner-Evans (38) and Sujeeth Daini (37) top scored, while Ronan DeGrussa bagged 4-33 to jump into top spot in the division’s leading wicket-takers list with 34 poles.
Sarisbury Athletic lost by 30 runs to Portsmouth, but with four weeks of the season remaining, enjoy a 14-point lead over Alton - only the Division 1 champions win promotion to the Premier Division.
Asked to chase 238 for victory, Sarisbury reached 105-3 before losing the key wicket of leading runscorer, left-hander Sam Floyd (38).
That brought Nathan Feltham to the crease, whose middle order runs have been a feature of Sarisbury’s promotion challenge.
He struck 61 off 62 balls - with seven fours and three sixes - before Reuban McArdle (3-53) had him caught by James Christian to make the score 187-8. They were eventually all out for 207, to lose by 30 runs.
It had been a consistent batting effort by Portsmouth, who reached 237-9 without any batter contributing a half-century.
Joe Kooner-Evans (38) and Sujeeth Daini (37) top scored, while Ronan DeGrussa bagged 4-33 to jump into top spot in the division’s leading wicket-takers list with 34 poles.
 Alton's Abhay Gonella caught at slip off the first ball of the match ! |  Mark Heffernan caught too .. |
Sarisbury Athletic's defeat keeps the door ajar for Alton, who won by 125 runs at Steephill despite not having been in the best shape early on and later at 148-5 when Tom South (39) fell.
But past Winchester College captain George Egleston (85), who is developing into a decent young cricketer, and Michael Heffernan (68) picked up the tab to take Alton to 293-8.
With no Martin Blackman to bolster their middle-order, Ventnor fell away to 168 all out, with U14 prospect Sam Mills hitting 48.
But past Winchester College captain George Egleston (85), who is developing into a decent young cricketer, and Michael Heffernan (68) picked up the tab to take Alton to 293-8.
With no Martin Blackman to bolster their middle-order, Ventnor fell away to 168 all out, with U14 prospect Sam Mills hitting 48.
George Egleston 86 for Alton [photos Dave Reynolds]
