Left-hand opener Dubs Wood and Dean Nurse hit half-centuries as Basingstoke and North Hants extended their winning start with a three-wicket victory over Rowledge at May's Bounty.

It was their third successive win, leaving the Bountymen a solitary point behind leaders Andover in the embryo Southern Premier Division 1 table.

The pair each hit 56, their 50-plus stand putting Basingstoke in a strong position before a middle-order wobble saw four wickets fall for 31 runs before they overhauled a Rowledge total of 177 with four overs to spare.

Some bright stoke play between Jonty Seeborn and Zac LeRoux gave Rowledge a promising start, but the innings stalled at 45-3, with Bradley Neal taking 2-24 and then removing Australian youngster Conor Cook with a stunning catch low down.  At 56-4, Rowledge weren't in great shape.

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Jake Wish (60) and teenager Olly Ryman (27) produced a patient partnership to lift Rowledge to 167-7, but Basingstoke's four-pronged spin attack was in motion, and with Ash Neal (3-23) and Alistair Brown (3-26) sharing six wickets, the visitors fell to 171 all out.

Basingstoke blasted out the traps with 35 on the board in no time and looked to be heading for a comfortable victory - but two quick wickets, firstly a stumping from Ben Wish and then a sharp run out from Ryman reduced them to 60-2.

Basingstoke Gazette:

Wood and Nurse consolidated and batted with patience to take the game away from Rowledge, an 80-run partnership almost seeing them home.

But Rowledge didn't give up and Wood's exit created dressing room nerves. Tight bowling from the visitors - the miserly Oli Baker took 1-9 off his 10 overs -  led to the loss of three more wickets and it needed Nurse to smack 16 runs off one over to tip the scales.