Midhurst make hay to leave Purbrook's win hopes in Ruins

The hosts lost the toss and fielded first but this didn’t worry Midhurst captain Tim Powell as he knew his batting line-up was longer than a giraffe’s neck.

Powell and Tim Dixon soon found their rhythm and dismissed the two openers in quick succession.

There was a delay before the next wicket with Figgins and Mitchell playing aggressive strokes but Nick Price and Jamie Hall tied them up, leading to a good run-out from Tom Atkins.

Midhurst knew it was a good batting track and they just had to keep Purbrook to under 300 runs.

Powell and Tom Atkins had to finish off the last few overs with Powell picking up three more wickets and Atkins one leaving a very gettable total of 287 for nine.

Midhurst, needing a little under six an over, set out with great purpose.

Steve May and Edward Atkins accumulated 68 in ten overs, Atkins seeing of the openers with some lusty blows to the boundary.

A couple of wickets fell quickly through over-excited batting.

Atkins was given the chance to show his skills with the bat, slowly building a very tidy innings, while Nick Price hit the Purbrook overseas player to all corners of the ground before he was caught by a slower ball.

Up stepped captain Powell to try to steer Midhurst to a great victory and with some great running, Atkins and Powell cruised to victory with four overs to spare.

This was a great win for Midhurst and puts them in sixth spot.

This week they host Locks Heath, who sit just above Midhurst in the table.

Farehaven v Salthill

Hampshire League reg three south east

On a sunny afternoon, Salthill lost another toss and were invited to bat.

On a batsman-friendly pitch, opener Trevor Almack was again the pick of the batsman, holding together the innings with a typically-nuggety innings of 74.

As he anchored one end, the whole of the upper and middle order contributed but without any stand-out score.

Regular wickets fell but some lower-order hitting managed to propel the final score to 251 for nine.

In response, Farehaven’s openers started well but after Josh Holder made the all-important breakthrough, there wasn’t much resistance from the rest.

Steve King was again the pick of the bowlers, taking six for 44.

Salthill picked up 24 points with Farehaven claiming ten points.