SIXTEEN points separate Basingstoke and North Hants and the bottom club Havant going into the final four 50-over 'white ball' matches of the ECB Southern Premier League season.

Basingstoke will want to widen this gap on Saturday (12.30pm) when Lymington's visit to the Bounty coincides with Alton facing Havant in a 'six pointer' at the Jubilee Ground. The following week, Basingstoke go to Havant for what could be a 'do or die' battle for survival.

Basingstoke suffered a seven-wicket beating at third-placed South Wilts, who are still very much in the title mix.

They lost four wickets before the score reached 50 at Bemerton - Aussie Ryan Freeman taking 2-35 - and needed a fifth-wicket rescue act from George Metzger (48) and Matt Deadman (21) to get anything like a competitive score on the board.

The pair added 55 before Metzger was bowled by Rob Pittman at 100-4. Left-armer Tom Grant (3-35) took three of the next five wickets to fall as Basingstoke dropped to 137-9 before last pair Ali Brown and Prashant Yelpale added a bonus 29.

Jack Mynott led the way with an unbeaten and ten boundary 62 as South Wilts recovered from the early loss of James Degg to cruise home in the 33rd over. Tom Cheater (37), Harry Broderick (24) and Ben Draper (24 not out) played key support roles, while Brown's left-arm spin was rewarded with a 2-38 return.