ANDOVER continued their march towards the Southern Premier League Division One title with a tense 10 run victory over local rivals Basingstoke on Saturday.

The London Road side, who have now won six consecutive league victories, posted a score of 248-9 against their fellow North Hampshire visitors after being sent out to bat first.

Openers Storm Green (51) and Ali Hooper (34) got Andover off to a good start while James O'Gorman was also in impressive touch with a score of 47.

Basingstoke's reply started equally well with openers Belcher and Williamson both posting solid scores.

Danger-man Will Phillips threatened to take the game away from Andover with a top batting score of 89*.

However Andover bowler Mike Adams ripped out the wickets of three of his batting partners to swing the game back in his side's favour.

A run out in the final over ended Basingstoke's innings 10 shy of their target.

See the full report in this Friday's Andover Advertiser.

The win follows on from last week's nail biting victory over fellow high-flyers Bournemouth.

The London Road side chased down a target of 193 runs with just a ball to spare during a heat-filled visit to the south coast last weekend.

The win, Andover’s fifth back-to-back league victory, fires them above title rivals Sarisbury and Hook and Newnham who went head-to-head on Saturday.

Hook ran out six wicket winners but remain in third place.

Andover skipper Matt Hooper was eager to bat first but after losing the toss, he was unsurprisingly asked to field first.

The pacey partnership of Mike Adams and in-form Babu Veettil soon hit their strides and bowled an impeccable first 10 overs, leaking just 17 runs.

Veettil (2-24) also secured the prized wicket of Bournemouth captain Martin Miller.

Hooper quickly introduced spin into the attack through experienced Glyn Treagus, who quickly picked off Ben Bridgen for a patient 41.

A 60 run partnership between Luke Matthews and Chris Park helped to give the Bournemouth innings some impetus during the middle overs.

With the home side poised on 170-5 with eight overs remaining, Veettil returned to remove Matthews for a well-made 56 and tight bowling from Foy and Hooper resulted in Bournemouth ending on 193-7.

Andover’s response started in explosive fashion with Ali Hooper (40) and Will Arnold (25) crashing 70 runs off their first 10 overs.

Hooper was eventually dismissed by Dom Clutterbuck and Arnold followed in the next over bringing in-form batsmen Glyn Treagus and James O’Gorman to the fold.

O’Gorman recorded a rare single figure score but Treagus rallied with an impressive 46 alongside Martin Roberts to steady the ship.

Matt Hooper (25) pushed Andover on, but when he fell the score was balanced on 140-6 with 15 overs remaining.

The experienced Mike Adams and Veettil notched an important 22 run partnership before Veettil was bowled for 16 to leave Andover six short with only a wicket in hand.

With one ball remaining Adams crunched a lovely straight drive for four to secure Andover the win.