Hampshire's Academy side are off to a winning start in the Southern Electric Premier League.

They christened their competitive debut with a 27-run Rose Bowl victory over a spirited Sparsholt side that could easily have buckled in two key spells immediately before and after the tea interval.

It was in those defining periods that Tony Middleton's Young Hawks effectively put the game beyond Sparsholt.

They gorged 51 runs off the last four of their 50-over allocation, and then ripped out Sparsholt's top four batsmen with only 15 runs on the board. But, to their credit, Sparsholt refused to lie down, with Andy Heyes and Tim Simmonite leading a middle-order recovery that ultimately took the visitors to within 27 runs of a demanding Hampshire target.

Hampshire's 231-5 owed much to opener Iain Brunnschweiler, whose positive stroke play got the innings off to a sound beginning.

Brunnschweiler, who struck eight boundaries in a crisp 56, exhumed confidence, barely playing a false stroke until leg-spinner Olly Kelly bowled him around his legs at 104-2.

Martin Bushell, a 17-year old from Reading School who is one of Hampshire's five Cricket Academy students, gave Brunnschweiler firm support in a 70-run opening stand.

The Berkshire youngster, who earlier survived a confident appeal by Craig Falkingham for a catch behind, made a tidy 31.

But the pair had to work for their runs as Sparsholt's seasoned fielders gave valued support to the depleted five-man attack Rob Savage had at his disposal. Middleton, anxious to play a low key role in the newly formed county development team, will have been equally well satisfied with the performances of three of his other promising youngsters.

Sarisbury Athletic's Peter Hammond, at 15 years of age the youngest fledgling in the Hawks nest, displayed no lack of confidence either in a neatly compiled 38.

But, as the innings entered its final phase and Sparsholt eyed the prospect of restricting the Academy to around 200, so David Wheeler and Tom Burrows grasped the nettle.

Like Bushell earlier, Wheeler got away with an apparent edge to the keeper, and went on to hoist Kelly for one huge six into the main Rose Bowl arena. But he was comparatively subdued until Burrows, another Berkshire Bantam, arrived at the crease with six overs to go (at 166-4) to considerably up the tempo.

The pair put the previously effective left-arm medium-pace of Mike Ball and Ian Ellis to the sword in no uncertain manner - 51 runs coming in a frenetic four-over pre-tea bash.

Wheeler, with two sixes and five fours, finished with an unbeaten 60, while Burrows played a series of crisply struck shots all around the wicket, scoring 26 off just 17 balls.

It took the Hampshire youngsters to 231-5 - and to a total that yielded maximum batting bonus points.

"Overall, it was a very impressive Hampshire batting performance," praised Sparsholt skipper Rob Savage, who spent two seasons on the county staff in 1979 and 1980.

"They all came in and played positively, showing particular awareness of what they each had to do, having regard to the situation of the game.

"The incoming batsmen gave the strike to those that had established themselves at the crease and never at any stage did they have to play rash shots.

"It was a thoroughly professional performance," Savage added.

The fact that Sparsholt got to 204-9 and to within 27 runs of their target was quite remarkable after the Winchester side lost their first three wickets with only three runs on the board.

England Under-15 all-rounder David Griffiths, from Shanklin and another of the Academy students, bowled Tim Richings shouldering arms and then had veteran Bill Gunyon snapped up at first slip by Brunnschweiler.

In between, Kelly nicked James Schofield into the waiting gloves of Burrows behind the stumps.

When David Wheeler trapped Savage leg before, it was conceivable that Sparsholt might not reach 50.

From the wreckage of 15-4, Andy Heyes and Tim Simmonite gradually rebuilt the Sparsholt reply, the pair adding 69 in a gutsy fifth-wicket partnership. Simmonite, sidelined almost all of last season with chronic back problems, happily took on the Hawks change bowlers, scoring 39 before being bowled by the off-spin of Irfan Shah.

His positive stance gave Carl Nichols the licence to apply the long handle, the Sparsholt all-rounder hoisting two huge sixes over mid-on as the visitors rallied, gradually rediscovering self-belief.

Heyes, with a well constructed half-century, proved the mainstay of the fight back and ensured that Sparsholt would at least emerge with credit from defeat. Victory was always beyond them, but at least Sparsholt had made a gallant fight of it ...

For the Academy, leg-spinner Ian Hilsum, Griffiths, Schofield and Shah all took two wickets.

© Hampshire Cricket