Havant’s winning start in SPL T20 hat-trick bid
Havant avoided a potential banana skin as they set about trying to win the Southern Premier League T20 Cup for the third year running.
A much-changed XI completed a 10-run victory over one division lower Basingstoke & North Hants at Havant Park yesterday.
Harry Gadd (21), Chris Stone (19) and skipper Peter Hopson (26) took Havant to 96-4. After that, it was left to top scorer Sonny Reynolds (33 off 29 balls) to guide the hosts to 137-7 (Ashley Neal 3-31) after they had been inserted.
Basingstoke’s reply began badly when opener Richard Vinn was run out by Nick Ward for a duck.
Stone (2-22 off four overs) and Richard Hindley (1-14 off four) helped tie the visitors down, while teenager Matt Hayward bagged 2-22 off three overs.
Freddie Gadd, who had only conceded 11 runs off his first three overs, ran into bowl the last over of the innings with Basingstoke requiring an improbable 29.
After taking two off the first ball, Tyler Bradley was run out off the second - leaving Bradley Neal to score 27 off four balls. He smashed the first three for 16 - two sixes and a four - but failed to score off the last as his side closed on 129-9.
Havant’s last SPL T20 loss was a six-wicket quarter-final defeat at Burridge in August 2019. Since then, they thrashed the Hampshire Academy by eight wickets to lift the silverware in 2020 and caned Hook by nine wickets to retain the trophy last September.
Gosport Borough fell just short of beating two divisions higher Alton in another T20 first round tie at Privett Park.
Chasing 172 for victory, Muhammad Ali clubbed two sixes and a four off the 18th over to leave Gosport needing just 16 off the final 12 balls. But Nathan Gilbert conceded just five runs off his last over and Scott Myers, who bowled the 20th, conceded only four as well as removing Craig Stares (0).
That left Gosport stranded seven runs short of victory on 165-8.
Skipper Lee Harrop (34) and Jubin Karappai (29) had taken Gosport to 82-1.
Alton had been given a good start by a 73-run first wicket stand in 7.3 overs between Tom South (43) and Dan Harris (31).
They later crashed 32 off the last three overs to finish on 171-5.