Matt Hooper on his way to 66 [The News]
Matt Hooper made his highest SPL score and Charlie Ayres weighed in with a five-wicket haul as Andover beat Portsmouth by 26 runs on Southsea seafront to record a second consecutive Southern Premier Division 1 win.
Elevated in the batting order, Hooper made an important 66 – an innings which shaped Andover’s 217 and enabled the Lions to nick a single-point lead over Basingstoke & North Hants at the top of the embryo league table.
Hooper normally bats in Andover’s lower middle order and, as a consequence, has only four fifty-plus scores on his CV, but the former Lions captain played a key role, steering the side to 159-5 with one or two hiccups along the way.
Glyn Treagus went cheaply, but teenager Oli Williams (39), ‘Richie’ Mutambami (24) and Matt Knight (35) provided invaluable support before Aidan Jansen (17) and Mike Adams made handy runs at the end.
Jack Marston (33) and Dan Wimble (34) eased Portsmouth to a promising 125-3 when Ayres ripped through the middle order, with a five-wicket spell of 5-25 which sent the hosts crashing to 139-8.
Steve Warner (26 not out) and Reuben McArdle (18) tried in vain to rescue the situation as Portsmouth were dismissed for 191.
Elevated in the batting order, Hooper made an important 66 – an innings which shaped Andover’s 217 and enabled the Lions to nick a single-point lead over Basingstoke & North Hants at the top of the embryo league table.
Hooper normally bats in Andover’s lower middle order and, as a consequence, has only four fifty-plus scores on his CV, but the former Lions captain played a key role, steering the side to 159-5 with one or two hiccups along the way.
Glyn Treagus went cheaply, but teenager Oli Williams (39), ‘Richie’ Mutambami (24) and Matt Knight (35) provided invaluable support before Aidan Jansen (17) and Mike Adams made handy runs at the end.
Jack Marston (33) and Dan Wimble (34) eased Portsmouth to a promising 125-3 when Ayres ripped through the middle order, with a five-wicket spell of 5-25 which sent the hosts crashing to 139-8.
Steve Warner (26 not out) and Reuben McArdle (18) tried in vain to rescue the situation as Portsmouth were dismissed for 191.
