On a warm sunny afternoon, Portchester won the toss and elected to bat first. Their openers started briskly and had reached 60 in the 13th over when Tom Harris bowled Robbins for 16. Fellow opener Hungerford was looking dangerous until he was trapped LBW by Toby Mills for 43.After this wickets fell at regular intervals as Harris (3 for 33) and Mills (3 for 30) continued to make inroads with their excellent bowling spells. Late wickets for Sean Read and Michael O’Sullivan plus a run out from a direct hit by O’Sullivan left Portchester on 175 for 9 after their 45 overs.
After tea, Bashley openers Paul Kemp and Matt Wedge started cautiously against an accurate Portchester bowling attack. Wedge then started to hit out with a succession of fine boundary shots around the ground to take Bashley to 74 before he was eventually caught for 46 in the 22nd over. From here wickets started to fall at regular intervals, including Kemp for a patient 29, as Tolliday (3 for 30) and Kelly (2 for 29) reduced Bashley to 118 for 6 after 34 overs. As Portchester started to sense victory, Jack Ransom and James Edmunds batted very sensibly together to steady the Bashley innings. With quick running between the wickets they pressurised the Portchester fielders and then started to find the boundaries. Their partnership swung the game back in Bashley’s favour to leave 5 required for victory from the final over. Successive boundaries by Ransom (46 not out) well supported by Edmunds (24 not out) took Bashley to victory in a well contested match with just three balls to spare.
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