Bashley travelled to Southsea to play a strong Portsmouth 2nd team reinforced by the cancellation of their 1st team fixture.
Portsmouth won an important toss and had no hesitation in asking Bashley to bat first on green pitch with heavy clouds overhead. Batting was difficult and Jack Ransom was soon caught behind for 2. Tom O’Sullivan struck three early boundaries but in a mix up in calling was run out for 15. Progress was slow against an accurate Portsmouth bowling attack and at the halfway stage of innings Bashley were 53 for 3. Michael O’Sullivan was adjudged LBW for 11 and Harry Anstey caught for 28 as Bashley looked to accelerate the scoring. Wickets continued to fall as Bashley attempted to increase the scoring rate but Sam Scott was batting with increasing fluency. Mixing singles with well placed boundary shots he scored a very valuable 40 not out to hold the innings together and eventually took Bashley to 145 for 9 off their 45 overs. For Portsmouth Fahad Ahmed bowled an impressive spell of 4 for 16 in his 10 overs.
After a lovely tea the sun was out and a strong breeze had helped to dry out the wicket. Sean Read bowled an impressive opening spell and was unlucky not to take a wicket. Jack Ransom (1 for 32) took an early wicket but this brought 1st team bat Jack Marston to the crease. He quickly settled in and with a range of boundary shots he gradually took the game away from Bashley. The Bashley bowlers stuck well to their task backed up with good ground fielding. Toby Mills (1 for 25) and Nick Clark ( 1 for 25) both bowled well and were unfortunate not to gain more reward as Portsmouth coasted to a seven wicket victory with 10 overs to spare. Marston finished on a classy 61 not out and Betts 33 not out as Portsmouth consolidated their position at the top of County Division 3 South.
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