Havant well beaten at SPL table-toppers Wilts
It’s little wonder South Wilts are riding high at the top of the ECB Southern Premier League – their batsmen can’t stop scoring hundreds!
The unbeaten 105 skipper Ben Draper made to lay the foundations for a comprehensive win over Havant was the fifth century a Bemertonbased batter had made in the side’s four Time Pennant victories.
Draper’s 105 not out was his third in the Premier League and underpinned a rain-trimmed total of 2345 which was always beyond Havant’s reach.
The 109-run win was South Wilts’ fourth in the allday ‘time’ format and maintains a five-point lead over Hampshire Academy.
South Wilts were firmly in the driving seat when they sat down for lunch at 111-2.
Havant’s Ben Walker must have felt he was skippering with one hand tied behind his back. With Richard Jerry (side muscle) and Sonny Reynolds (back) injured and university captain Nick Ward back home in Folkestone, Walker was Havant’s sole seamer, though his nine overs cost only 16 runs. The remaining 51 overs were spin.
Stearman, only two shy of 400 Premier League runs this season, was happy enough and, having hit a six and eight fours in his 75, looked all set to score his second century of 2022 when he missed a straight one from 14-year-old Matt Hayward.
In days gone by, Havant might have engaged in a run chase but, a club in transition, they are a pale shadow of the side that nailed eight separate championships between 2000 and 2017.
Young Charlie Whitfield (19) led a sound enough start but from 38-0 Havant lost seven wickets for 28 runs and plunged to 66-7 – Chris Stone watching on in horror and disbelief as a succession of partners came and went.
Aayran Sen (3-35), the Mumbai spin magician, opened the can, removing Harry Gadd courtesy of a superb catch in the deep by Stearman before Tom Lewis (3-38) sliced through the top order.
Attack was Stone’s only form of defence and he continued his excellent recent form – an unbeaten 97 against Hook and 123 at Bournemouth – with a boundary strewn 50 (two sixes and eight fours).
Stone is now top of the SPL top flight’s runscorers list, with 428 at 61.14 – 12 more than Morton.