AMPORT suffered a heavy defeat as they were beaten in the County Division Two by opponents Hythe.

Winning the toss and bowling first, Amport allowed their opposition to move into a commanding position as runs flowed easily for their opening batsmen.

The home side raced to 60 from the first 10 overs.

The introduction of Adie Holewell and Leighton Bone stemmed the flow and at the half-way point, Amport were back on top with the visitors at 114 for 5.

However the Amport bowlers could not pick up the vital late order wickets.

Matt Howe, batting at number five, played particularly well, hitting 69 not out, as the home side reached 223 for 9.

Leighton Bone 10 overs 3 for 34, and Adie Holewell 10 overs 3 for 25 were the pick of the bowling.

On a fine batting pitch, Amport felt the chase was well within reach.

Dean Woodhouse fired Amport out of the blocks and even when he fell for 48, with the score on 68, Amport still felt confident of a win.

However the middle order crumbled in spectacular fashion with a mixture of rustiness and poor shot selection.

Amport were eventually bowled all out for 155.

Ant Gillard (33) and Dan Holewell (19) showed some resistance, while a final wicket stand of 35 between Leighton Bone (12) and Ian Gilmour (14*), kept the score respectable.