Stone stranded so close to a ton in Havant romp
Chris Stone was left stranded three short of his second Southern Premier League top flight century as Havant thrashed lowly Hook & Newnham Basics.
The batter was 97 not out when skipper Ben Walker declared his side’s innings at 248-5 off 61.5 overs of the first timed Premier Division game of the season.
In the 120-over matches, no side can bat for more than 64 overs.
Stone hit 10 fours and a six in his 116-ball innings his highest SPL score since hitting 105 against St Cross seven years ago.
His SPL best remains 113 for Havant 2nds against Waterlooville in a Division 3 fixture in 2017.
After being inserted, Walker had departed for a duck before Charlie Whitfield (37) and Peter Hopson (37) added 67 for the second wicket.
StoneandGeorgeMetzger (23) then put on 60 for the fifth wicket before the evergreen Richard Hindley (42 not out off 32 balls) helped the former add an unbroken 105 for the sixth wicket.
In reply, both Hook openers were out to the first ball they faced.
Richard Jerry trapped Richard Willcock leg before and Sonny Reynolds had Matt Love caught behind by Metzger with his opening delivery.
It was the second time in eight days that Reynolds had taken a wicket with his first ball. A week earlier, his figures stood at 2-0 off his first two overs in the win over Lymington.
Incredibly, he followed that up with figures of 2-0 off three overs after removing Harry Warner in his third over as Hook slumped to 11-3.
Matt Buckingham (33) and Harry Robson (24) put on 50 for the fourth wicket before the latter was run out by Stone.
Hook, now bottom of the table, sagged to 111-9 with wickets shared between Jerry (2-44), Reynolds (215), Freddie Gadd (2-27) and Hindley (2-27).
Stone wrapped up a 112run success - Havant’s second three-figure win in a row, having trounced Lymington by 122 runs - by bowling last man Aniket Divecha with his fifth delivery.
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