ANDOVER sponsored by Nordlock, hosted last season's Southern League Division One champions Calmore Sports in a game that was hanging in the balance before the rain came and washed it out.

The day started brightly with skipper Matt Hooper winning the toss and electing to bat first on another superb London Road pitch.

Opener Ali Hooper wasted no time in getting going, crunching ten off the first over.

He then watched in dismay as Asher Hart and Will Arnold fell in the same over. Glyn Treagus, buzzing from his half-century last weekend, joined Hooper and they took the score to 60 before Treagus was trapped LBW for nine.

Hooper continued to blaze his way to a half-century, including twelve boundaries, but was unlucky to play-on to a wide one from the impressive Steve Wright.

Two 17 year-old debutants, Robin Liney and Nathan Birks, steadied the ship with a watchful partnership.

Liney rotated the strike nicely to give the powerful Birks a chance to free his arms.

Both made excellent starts, getting into the 20s before falling to the spin duo of Lavelle and Rose.

A collapse of epic proportions then ensued with Andover falling from 130-4 to 140-9 and the town side looked doomed.

Enter Luke Graham and Matt Knight. The pair had plenty of time to rebuild the innings and they played a watchful first five overs before the final 10 came along and they unleashed on the Calmore attack.

Graham crashed his way to 49 with the support of Matt Knight who ended up on 48 not out. The pair took the side to a more than respectable 231 all out with Graham falling in the final over, one short of a deserved half-century.

A few drops of rain at tea was a warning sign for the deluge on its way to ruin the game but the hosts managed to get 18 overs in before that point.

Asher Hart bowled a hostile spell with the new ball, picking up one wicket for just 13 runs off his six overs.

Matt Hooper then brought himself on with immediate impact, picking up the two prize wickets of Ben Johns and Mark Lavelle but with the rain steadily coming down and the conditions becoming more and more unplayable, the umpires called it a day. Calmore finished on 68-3 off 18 overs with the game nicely poised to go either way but it wasn't to be.

Andover have another home game on Saturday when they host newly promoted OTs and Romsey.

Pic Caption - Andover Cricket Club 2018 - (back row left to right) Ali Hooper, Nathan Birks, Matt Knight, Richard Taylor, Mike Adams, Luke Graham, Glyn Treagus. (front row) Robin Liney, Asher Hart, Matt Hooper, Triena Adams (scorer) and Will Arnold.