AndoverFirst XI, sponsored by Nordlock, lost their battle to retain their Southern Premier League division one status, losing to St Cross in a game that went down to the last over. Andover started the game in eighth position knowing that they had to win to stay in the league.

St Cross, who started the day bottom of the league, won the toss and elected to bat first knowing they were already relegated and had nothing to play for. Andover started well without threatening early on and the St Cross batters capitalised on anything loose from the Andover opening bowlers, Michael Adams and Babu Veettil.

Adams slowly got into his stride and he picked up the first wicket with the score on 30. He then picked up the next two wickets, both bowled, and St Cross slipped to 50-3. This brought ex-Hampshire player, Jason Laney, to the crease and he immediately looked like he was set to make a big score. Rowan Duckworth and Will Carr replaced the opening bowlers but neither could make the breakthrough. Andover continued to rotate their bowlers but The next three wickets all fell to run-outs, two of which were direct hits from Adams. Crucially the third of these run outs was Laney himself when he was turned back attempting a risky single. St Cross collapsed and wickets fell quickly with the Winchester side losing their last six wickets for 16 runs. Veettil was re-introduced into the attack and he picked up three more wickets to cap a brilliant season for the Andover fast bowler.

With St Cross bowled out for 136, Andover knew they had an opportunity to save themselves from relegation. Openers, Sam Ashman and Glyn Treagus, both fresh from half centuries the week before, started cautiously. With the score on 25 they lost Ashman, who finished a brilliant debut season in the Southern Premier League with nearly 300 runs, a remarkable return for a player in his early teens. Things quickly got worse for Andover as they lost Matt Knight for a golden duck and Andover were wobbling.

Charlie Ayers steadied the ship with Treagus but 20 runs later Ayers fell and Andover were 42-3. This quickly became 45-5 with Carr and Nathan Birks both falling in quick succession. A returning Andrew Duckworth again went about rebuilding the Andover innings and he and Treagus took the score to 72 before Duckworth fell trying to break the shackles. All the time Treagus was there Andover felt they had a chance of victory and this was increased more so when Veettil hit 26 from the 10 balls he faced. Veettil fell going for one too many big shots but Andover were back in the game needing 26 runs with three wickets left. Treagus, going for a big shot down the ground, fell agonisingly short and was caught for a well crafted 58. Adams fell five balls later, and the last wicket needed 21 with the final pair, Hooper and Rowan Duckworth.

Duckworth called for a risky single and was run out leaving Andover six runs short of victory and relegated to the Southern Premier League division two.