Emsworth and Salthill are happy Hampshire leaguers

Bramshaw v Emsworth

Division four south

Emsworth travelled again to the far corners of the New Forest, with yet another away match, this time away to Bramshaw.

Having lost the toss, Emsworth were asked to field, and on a hot muggy day with very little wind, it was a daunting task.

J Drake and B Hilton put on a good stand for the first wicket, racking up 85 on a flat pitch with relatively short boundaries, before Jonathan Riches found the outside edge for Phil Noller to take an excellent diving catch to his right to dismiss Drake for 43.

The Emsworth side were made to work hard to contain the runs, but Mick Offord yet again found some turn and dismissed J Roberts for 28, bowled.

After a miserable and inconsistent first spell, Lee Gray coming in for his second stint, bowled with accuracy to claim two wickets - first the Bramshaw opener Hilton bowled for 68, then R Blake for 27, caught by Mark Martin, the Emsworth skipper.

Bramshaw finished with a respectible 234 for five in their 45 overs.

Emsworth’s fielding left plenty to be desired with nine dropped catches.

In reply, Emsworth looked to use the small boundaries to their advantage, but Bramshaw made a good start, dismissing Emsworth opener Khalid Al-Safi for a duck, the opener trying to hook a short bouncer for six, but unfortunately gloving it to the keeper.

So Emsworth were seven for one. But with Will Pitts and number three James Swaine in fine form, Emsworth looked to set about getting the imposing target.

Bramshaw did not bowl very well considering their small boundaries did make the total less daunting. Extras were the norm, and 52 of them did not make good reading.

Pitts took to Bramshaw’s bowlers smashing an impressive 67 off 81 balls before being caught, but Swaine got ever closer to a century and was timing the ball well, hitting 102 not out off 92 balls.

Barry James clubbed some fours to get to the target set by Bramshaw inside 37 overs. Emsworth won by eight wickets. Their next match is Hythe & Dibden away this Saturday.

Salthill v United Services III

Hants League regional div three south east

United Services won the toss and elected to bat on the new Salthill strip.

They found the powerful opening bowling partnership of Ashley Court and Josh Holder difficult to contain and were two wickets down for 22 runs before the talented Milner decided to classily distribute the various bowlers to most parts of the ground for a magnificent 82.

Court and Holder both finished with three wickets.

Salthill openers Scott Richardson (21) and Trevor Almack professionally and patiently saw off the attack of Allen and Milner. Jack Holder (24) and Damien Koblintz (41) masterfully notched up the majority of the winning runs.

United Services had arrived in second place in the table with only one defeat - but Salthill are on the up.

Young Court skippered Salthill for the first time in the absence of injured Alec Wallsgrove.