Andover picked themselves up from two consecutive defeats to put together arguably their best team performance of the season to defeat high flying Bournemouth in a crucial game at London Road.

Entering the business end of the season, Andover knew they had to win to stretch the gap between them and the relegation zone and the key players fired to produce a stunning victory.

Mike Adams elected to bat on another splendid London Road track and opener Ali Hooper smashed the first ball for four butt the other end, Dave Taylor was on the receiving end of a rip snorting delivery from Jones and was superbly taken in the slips by Kitson.

Byron Haycock was desperate for a big score after a couple of quiet weekends he and Hooper piled on 70 runs in quick time as Haycock tried to get big hitting Hooper on strike.

The powerful opener blazed his way to 49, hitting nine fours then Glyn Treagus kept the scoreboard ticking over until the final ten overs.

When Haycock was dismissed for a brilliant 59 and the score on 175-3 quick runs was the order of the day. However, some superb death bowling by Bournemouth made this very difficult for the town side.

Treagus was eventually dismissed for an extremely well crafted 68 then Robbie Hadfield closed on 20 not out, batting sensibly to see the home side to a slightly above par 222-6 off their 50 overs.

With a decent score on the board, Andover knew they had to bowl well to round off a good day and they did not disappoint.

Dave Taylor was the pick with an unbelievable opening spell which reaped only eight runs from his first eight overs.

The paceman was unplayable as he repeatedly beat the bat and often was too good to find the edge. At the other end, skipper Mike Adams went through the pain barrier to produce an excellent opening spell.

With only 25 runs coming from the first 15 overs, the pressure was mounting and young debutant Max Romer-Lee bowled Haywood with a superb yorker.

The 16-year old bowled with consistency and good movement through the air, causing the batsmen all sorts of problems. Key man Kitson proved to be a handful until Adams brought himself on and within three balls had him walking back to the pavilion for a well-made 55.

Treagus then out-foxed three in his ten overs, including the dangerous overseas player Brad Schuliman while at the other end, Max Souter was weaving his own kind of magic with an explosive spell that ripped out the heart of the middle order, thanks to some incredibly sharp work from Hadfield behind the stumps.

The glovesman took two fantastic catches standing up to the stumps plus a legside stumping off a wide, to round off a great day for the club stalwart.

Taylor came back to end with 1-14 but injured number 11, Anschuman Singh hobbled out with a runner only to blaze the ball to all parts to set up a tense finish.

With 24 required off the final two overs Singh wielding his and the first three balls of Knight's penultimate over found their way to the boundary. The fourth ball was edged down to third man where head coach Dave Taylor unleashed a rocket arm to a gleeful Hadfield who took to bails off to complete a run out and present Andover with the win they so richly deserved, by 12 runs.