ANDOVER made the short trip to OT's and Romsey who were sitting one place below them in the table and came away with a nail-biting victory. In bowler friendly conditions, the low-scoring game went down to the wire as Nord-lock sponsored Andover required just one run to win with only one wicket remaining but the experienced Mike Adams got the town over the line and up to sixth in the table.

Matt Hooper lost the toss and was asked to field first on another balmy day in what has been a superb summer.

New ball pair Aidan Jansen and Mike Adams gave nothing away cheaply and it soon became obvious that anything over 100 was going to be a competitive score.

Adams returned a miserly 8-1 off his five overs, and first change Luke Graham also picked up a wicket, but it was the spinners that were always going to do the damage.

Leg spinner Charlie Ayers was introduced into the attack and when he removed the dangerous Joseph Vaughan for a well-made 43, the OT's innings capitulated in dramatic fashion.

105-4 became 105-7 as Ayers, Hooper and Glyn Treagus ripped the heart out of the host's middle order.

Only six more runs were added to the total as the Andover spin trio took the final three wickets wrapping up the innings in four overs.

A special mention goes to Ayers who spun out his first Andover five wicket haul in just his fourth game for the club, clean bowling four of his victims.

The evergreen Treagus ended with 2-7 from his four overs, proving he still has the old magic with the ball.

With just 111 on the board, Andover's run chase looked straightforward on paper.

However, the game saw 16 maidens bowled from the 81.5 total overs, at an average run rate of 2.7 runs per over.

This was never going to be easy.

The visitors lost Ali Hooper and Asher Hart early in the piece, and wickets fell with regularity throughout the chase.

Glyn Treagus played an excellent turn with the bat, notching 28 watchful runs, top scoring for Andover.

With small contributions from Ayers (14) and Robin Liney (8), Andover nudged their way to victory.

It was a vital 35 run partnership between Matt Hooper (13) and Matt Knight (23) that took the town to 99 before another collapse left the nerves jangling once again.

With just one run required, Knight chipped to mid-on and was well caught, leaving Jansen and Adams to find that last run for victory.

The trusted slog sweep over mid-wicket from Adams (8 not out) did the job for Andover in the 47th over.

Andover will look to take this momentum into Saturday's home clash against Liphook and Ripsley.