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Just 81 runs but 15 wickets in Trojans farce
Mike Vimpany - 15 July 2001
Fifteen wickets crashed for 81 runs at Stoneham Lane before Portsmouth secured a crucial five-wicket win over Trojans to boost their Southern Electric Premier League Division 2 promotion hopes.
Trojans were skittled for 40 and Portsmouth lost five wickets getting the target on an uncovered pitch freshened by a pre-match downpour.
"When the ball pitched, you had no idea at all what was going to happen. Batting was a total farce," claimed former Hampshire left-arm spinner Raj Maru, who captains Portsmouth.
Trojans lost their first five batsmen - three of them to county Under-19 pace bowler Naqeeb Ali Mohammed - for eight runs.
They were shot out for just 40 - the lowest total in Trojans' league history - in only 25.1 overs.
Maru himself clung onto three slip catches before taking the last four Trojans wickets for only five runs in 3.1 overs.
Portsmouth, second in Division 2 behind Lymington, progressed to 29-1 but lost four more wickets - two each to Jamie Donaldson and Tim Subnaik - before completing their victory ... and going home.
Trojans captain Simon Williams said that the toss had effectively decided the outcome of the match.
"The pre-match rain made batting extremely difficult and, quite honestly, had I won the toss, the result could have been the other way round.
"I know we have problems with our ground, but a lot of preparation work had gone in on the strip but, when you haven't got covers, there's not a lot you can do if it pours with rain before you start the game," he explained.
Trojans now have double sightscreens at Stoneham Lane.
The 19 points Portsmouth collected from the game marginally improved their overall average, but Lymington - whose visit to Hambledon was washed out - remain top.
Sparsholt ended a miserable five-match losing run after Kevin Foyle and stand-in skipper Rob Savage shared a double century partnership to set up an eventual 136-run win over Old Basing.
Ironically, Sparsholt lost opening pair Bill Gunyon and Tim Richings without a run on the board.
But Foyle, with a six and 14 fours in a superbly constructed 114, and Savage (89) put on 205 for the third wicket to completely turn the game around.
Sparsholt went on to reach 264-8 - and then bowled Old Basing out for 128 (Don Quantock 52), with Andy Heyes (3-27) penetrating the middle-order.
A gallant fourth-wicket stand between Ian Tulk (57) and Mike Trodd (49) left Old Tauntonians & Romsey an agonising five runs short of United Services' 192-9 at Burnaby Road.
They finished at 187-6 after Damien Carson (2-32) and man-of-the-match Paul Barsby (2-34) had left OTs 71-3.
The pair added 82, but US held their nerve to win a fifth game in six attempts. Their eventual victory was largely due to veteran Barsby, whose undefeated 58 and key eighth-wicket partnership with Carson (42) lifted US out of the mire at 73-7 (Mukesh Morjaria 4-33).
Skipper Stuart Tulk blamed OTs pedestrian start as the main reason for the defeat.
"We were far too slow at the start and had to score at six an over throughout the second-half of our innings," he said.
Easton & Martyr Worthy's top order misfired at Cove, where Chris Benham (68), Ian Crompton (51) and Troy Tomsett (45) engineered a 34-run win.
Easton dipped to 52-4 before Mark Stone (44), Steve Green (42) and Andy Birch (36) launched a middle-order rally and take the visitors reply to 195-8.
© SEPL / Mike Vimpany / Southern Daily Echo
| Players/Umpires | Rajesh Maru, Robert Savage, Timothy Richings, Christopher Benham. |
| Tournaments | Southern Premier League |
| Season | English Domestic Season |