ANDOVER made the short journey across north Hampshire to Hook and Newnham Basics for the final game of the 2018 season and ran out 19-run winners, writes MATT KNIGHT.

The town side handed young starlet Sam Pope a debut.

Andover batted first on a warm day. They suffered an early setback as Andrew Duckworth had his stumps rearranged by a ball that kept low. Glyn Treagus and Max Romar-Lee set about fixing the early damage.

Both displayed an array of shots and had the score rocketing along at a fast pace.

Romar-Lee brought the 100 up with a large six that cleared the Hook pavilion in the 15th over.

Romar-Lee notched up his fifty with another huge six, but then departed soon after he was caught and bowled. Debutant Pope joined ex-Hampshire star Glyn Treagus at the crease.

Pope helped Treagus reach his 50 before being well caught on the boundary for a promising 18.

The town side looked well set at 130-3 at the mid interval break.

Hook introduced their spinners into the attack and it had the desired effect of slowing down the Andover innings. Andover struggled on dusty surface and their innings slowed to 190-7 from 40 overs.

However, Treagus was unmoved. The evergreen star produced an innings of the highest calibre and reached a majestic century with another sumptuous boundary.

Treagus (102) was joined by Richie Taylor (30) and together the pair hit Andover up to a respectable score of 237 on a crumbling pitch.

Hook got of to a flying start with Jordan Hobday (36) striking some lusty blows. Rowan Duckworth removed Hobday who was well caught by his twin brother Andrew.

Andover started to make early inroads with Charlie Ayres and Richie Taylor claiming wickets.

At 80-4 of 20 overs, the town side were well ahead of the game.

Hook rebuilt with an aggressive partnership between the Buckingham brothers Matt and Josh took the game away from Andover to leave the score at 150-4 of 30 overs.

Hooper produced a master stroke to introduce Mike Adams into the attack.

The town stalwart removed both brothers in quick succession to leave the game finely poised. Richie Taylor turned the screw taking two further wickets to leave Hook requiring 40 of the last 10.

Some edges and calculated hitting from Hook's lower order took them to within 20 of the Andover score.

However, skipper Matt Hooper remained ice cool and picked up the remaining two wickets.

The win completed a solid season for the town side who finished fifth in the table.

Skipper Matt Hooper said of the season: "It has been a promising season for Andover this year with some enjoyable wins and some emerging young players.

"Hopefully we can take momentum from this season to challenge for the title next year.

"A huge thanks to all our sponsors in particular Nordlock who have been invaluable in their support this year."