St Cross Symondians finished 22 runs light after a terrific effort to chase down Havant’s hefty 332-9 in an absorbing ECB Southern Electric Premier Division encounter, which was in the balance until its latter stages.
Batsmen thrived on the ever-improving Green Jackets Ground surface, which yielded an aggregate 642 runs.
Such an cumulative total looked improbable when Havant, having lost openers Pete Hopson and Rob Gibson to Matt Stokes (2-86), dipped to 116-5, of which Richard Hindley made 31.
But Chris Stone changed all that in the next 20 minutes with an astonishing display of hitting.
He hit Harry Foyle out of the St Cross attack by smashing the 27th over of the innings for 20 – two sixes and two fours – and then launched a similar attack on Stokes, also bowling medium-pace.
The Channel Islander saw his next three overs struck for 44 – 18, 14 and 12 – Stokes hitting three maximums and six fours in a boundary blitz.
Stone went on to make 107 off 66 balls, a swashbuckling knock which contained six sixes and 15 fours.
The carnage didn’t finished there as Chris Morgan thumped a 12-four 80 and Stuart Ransley 55 – the pair putting on 100 for the eighth wicket and steering Havant to 332-9.
St Cross seldom die wondering and it was game on when Stokes (56) and Tom Foyle (31) took the Symondians reply to 87-1.
New Zealander Michael Pollard (82) and Adam Rouse (48) then added 128 before Jack Bransgrove cracked a quick fire 40 to keep the pot boiling.
The trio kept the game in the balance for a long while and it was only when Richard Hindley took two late wickets and Ben Walker returned to bowl a miserly 11-over spell that St Cross called a halt to what was a fine effort to chase down such a formidable total.
Batsmen thrived on the ever-improving Green Jackets Ground surface, which yielded an aggregate 642 runs.
Such an cumulative total looked improbable when Havant, having lost openers Pete Hopson and Rob Gibson to Matt Stokes (2-86), dipped to 116-5, of which Richard Hindley made 31.
But Chris Stone changed all that in the next 20 minutes with an astonishing display of hitting.
He hit Harry Foyle out of the St Cross attack by smashing the 27th over of the innings for 20 – two sixes and two fours – and then launched a similar attack on Stokes, also bowling medium-pace.
The Channel Islander saw his next three overs struck for 44 – 18, 14 and 12 – Stokes hitting three maximums and six fours in a boundary blitz.
Stone went on to make 107 off 66 balls, a swashbuckling knock which contained six sixes and 15 fours.
The carnage didn’t finished there as Chris Morgan thumped a 12-four 80 and Stuart Ransley 55 – the pair putting on 100 for the eighth wicket and steering Havant to 332-9.
St Cross seldom die wondering and it was game on when Stokes (56) and Tom Foyle (31) took the Symondians reply to 87-1.
New Zealander Michael Pollard (82) and Adam Rouse (48) then added 128 before Jack Bransgrove cracked a quick fire 40 to keep the pot boiling.
The trio kept the game in the balance for a long while and it was only when Richard Hindley took two late wickets and Ben Walker returned to bowl a miserly 11-over spell that St Cross called a halt to what was a fine effort to chase down such a formidable total.