Another gr-eight display from 100 per cent P & S
Portsmouth & Southsea extended their winning Southern Premier League by trouncing Gosport Borough at Privett Park.
P & S stormed to their eighth successive win with an eight-wicket victory that kept them 28 points ahead of Sway at the top of the Division 3 table.
More importantly, Ben Saunders’ side are 38 points clear of third-placed Langley Manor - with only the top two winning promotion.
P & S boast the best bowling attack in the division they have taken five more bowling points than anyone else. And that was clearly on show as they won the toss, inserted Gosport, and skittled them for 88.
The hosts quickly nosedived to 20-3 with openers Mark Toogood (6) and skipper Lee Harrop (7) removed by Jono Willey (3-22).
New ball partner Matt Benfield (2-29) accounted for Jayaram Jayaraj (4) and Viv Richards (1) as Gosport slid into more troubled waters at 28-4.
No 5 Jacob Harris averted total humiliation for his side by hitting 40 not out, but the final four batters - Greg Kitchin, Muhammad Ali, Sampath Prathapasinghe and Jack Richards - all failed to score.
Amidst the ducks, there were cheap wickets for Keiron Dunstan (3-12) and
Saunders (2-8) as Gosport’s innings ended in the 32nd over.
Opener Chris Bollom (37 not out) and Jack Davies (24 not out) brought up P & S’ latest win inside 23 overs.
Next up for P & S is a ‘top v bottom’ encounter with Purbrook,
currently favourites to be relegated to the Hampshire League.
They have lost all eight of their games so far and trail third from bottom Trojans by 49 points, with the bottom two relegated.
Purbrook’s latest setback was a 91-run defeat against Havant 2nds.
Though Ben Feeney (35) was top runscorer, hosts Havant still posted 220-8. Six other batters recorded scores in the 20s, including tailenders Steven Matthews (27) and Warren Turner (27 not out). There were also 26 extras.
Matthews (3-19) and Turner (2-9) followed up their runs with wickets as Purbrook careered to 70-9 before No 8 James Gurney (56) and Tom Amis (21 not out) put on 59 for the final wicket.