ANDOVER seconds bounced back to winning ways with an impressive 102-run victory over visiting Alton twos.

Home skipper Jimmy Knight won the toss and elected to bat first on an excellent pitch. The innings started poorly as Kelum Watta fell third ball.

After

Thereafter, Andrew Duckworth and Andrew Sale sought to rebuild. They did so superbly, punishing the bad ball and running hard between the wickets to give the Nordlock sponsored side the momentum.

When Duckworth fell for an exquisite 85, Sale adopted the anchor role as new partner Max Souter played aggressively on his way to 30.

This left Andover on 200-3 after 37 overs, and further middle order contributions from Summers (22), Knight (21 not out) and Brandon Smith (35) took Andover to a mammoth 293-7.

Alton were soon on the backfoot, as Rowan Duckworth took two wickets in the fourth over to reduce Alton to 20-2. He then removed Alton captain Andy Postless in the 12th over in a hostile opening spell of 3-27. Supported by twin brother Andrew at the other end (1-39) they found extra bounce in the wicket that Alton could not extract.

The impressive Arun Ganesh (3-28) took advantage of the high run rate to run though the Alton middle order, including the key wicket of Freddie Egglestone(50). Even if the Alton tail wagged, they were all out for 193.

This mightily impressive win by Andover II, their best in recent years, see them sit sixth in Hampshire League County Division One and this weekend they travel to Shrewton, looking make it four wins from five.