Normal Sunday service resumed

10:34am Saturday 5th July 2008

Andover Sunday made up for the defeat at Swindon earlier in the year, with a comprehensive victory over the Wiltshire side at London Road.

Sitting top of the table with three wins out of three, Swindon had been in fine form. After winning the toss and electing to bat on a good looking pitch, they lost an early wicket to direct hit from skipper Matt Hooper. Opening pair Mike Adams (1-32) and John Foster (0-36) bowled well, with aggression and accuracy, with Adams picking up the second wicket.

The introduction of the slower bowlers Chris Hadfield (1-27), Hooper (2-33) and Luke Graham (39-4), saw more wickets fall as Swindon tried to increase their total. It was left to Graham and Martin Roberts (1-14) to wrap up the innings, as they ended on 184 all out, with one over to spare.

This target was well within reach for a strong Andover batting order.

Mohammed Omair (19) set the tone for the Andover innings, while Andy Sale (54no) continued his good form from the Saturday.

When Omair fell this brought Mark Copleston (92) to the crease. He also carried his good form on from the weekend, striking the ball well and to all parts of the ground. He then fell with both his hundred and the victory target in sight and it was left to Shashir Jathar and Sale to complete the convincing victory, with 12 overs to spare.

Andover have now put themselves firmly back in contention for the Border League title, after winning their last two games.

They will be looking to make it three in three when they host Purley this Sunday.

l Andover lost their Powell's sponsored all-day match to Hampshire Academy by 168 runs after winning the toss and asking them to bat.

The Academy got off to a very good start finding themselves with 74 on the board before captain Liam Dawson was out for 27.

Opening bowlers Roger Miller and Richard Taylor could not get a breakthrough and it was only with a change in the bowling that Andover made any headway as spinner Matt Hooper made an instant impact, taking the skipper's wicket thanks to a stumping by Cille van der Merwe. The other academy opener, Benny Howell, was joined at the wicket by James Vince and these two made a partnership of 109 before Vince (63) was bowled by Uwe Birkenstock.

Hooper continued taking wickets and Howell was out for 100, again stumped by van der Merwe. The middle order could not withstand the Birkenstock/Hooper attack and they found themselves 212-7 off 54 overs. Chris Morgan (20no) and Danny Briggs (22no) took the Academy to the 250 mark when they declared, leaving Andover with a minimum of 62 overs.

The best bowling figures came from Matt Hooper 5-9.

Unfortunately Andover are finding it difficult to get runs these days and this match was no different. Openers, Mark Miller (7) and Rob Atkins (2), were both dismissed by the time the score was on 21 and Andover kept losing wickets regularly.

None of the town side's batsmen got into double figures, with the exception of Jonty Hadfield who ran out of partners when he was on 12 and Andover were all out for 82.

They face another tough task as they look to get back to winning ways tomorrow as they take on current champions Havant at London Road.

The Thirds notched up their third win of the season against Rowledge II on Saturday.

Rowledge were instantly questioning their decision to ask the town side to bat first as Mohammed Omair smashed the openers for a quick fire 31, finally holing out in only the seventh over. This was followed by a solid partnership of 75 between skipper Andy Sale and Tim Brown (33). When Sale was out, two short of his 50 in the 27th over with the score on 135-3, Andover looked set to post a big total. But some canny slow bowling by Rowledge started to peg Andover back, and wickets fell regularly. Rowledge did well to restrict the home side to 198 all out.

In reply, Rowledge started well with their Australian opener looking very strong. So, when Jon Walsh claimed his wicket, courtesy of a sharp slip catch by Andy McMahon, Andover were confident they would overcome any resistance. Wickets fell regularly with Nick Goodenough (3-35) and Walsh (4-33) the pick of the bowling. At 89-7 Rowledge looked dead and buried but the tail wagged and at one point it looked like they might complete an unlikely comeback, needing 35 from the last four overs.

But Martin Roberts came on at the end and picked up the last two including a great stumping from Simon Mundy.