Alton gave their best performance of the season on Saturday to see off the stiff challenge presented by second-placed Havant II.

Julian Ballinger won his sixth toss out of seven and had no hesitation in batting first on an excellent Jubilee wicket. But he must have thought it was going to be a bad day when both openers were back in the pavilion with the score on 4.

However, a hard-hitting partnership of 162 in 26 overs between Paddy Heffernan and Richard Morgan put the Alton train back on the rails.

Ballinger and young Mark Heffernan continued the attack with a quickfire stand and with the help of 49 extras from the bowling side, the Townsmen posted a formidable 268-8 from their 50 overs.

The Havant reply could not have started any beter, with Mist and Owen taking the attack to the Alton bowlers from the start. They had reached 94-0 by the first drinks break at 17 overs.

The introduction of Ben Rotheram and Ballinger stemmed the flow of runs and it was not long before the breakthrough was made. Rotheram claimed two wickets with consecutive deliveries in the 21st over and the home team never looked back.

Ballinger bowled 11 overs of miserly off-spin, taking 3 for 17, and Rotheram picked up another wicket to finish with 3 for 41. Bruce Oliphant was the other wicket-taker and there were two run-outs, including a direct hit by wicket-keeper Brian Gillingham.

This type of performance sets the standard for the rest of the season and similar form will need to be maintained if Alton are to achieve their goal of an immediate return to division two.

alton

M P Heffernan c Ward b Wade 1

G Billington lbw Benton 0

P Heffernan c Ward b Ferguson 79

R Morgan st Ward b Gover 56

B Oliphant run out 2

J Ballinger b Openshaw 35

M J Heffernan run out 30

H Jackson b Openshaw 4

B Rotheram not out 12

Extras 49

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Total (for 8 wkts) 268

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Bowling: G Benton 1-53, D Wade 1-25, S Ferguson 1-55, R Openshaw 2-53, M Gover 1-65.

havant

P Mist st Gillingham b Ballinger 47

G Owen b Rotheram 38

S Ferguson c and b Rotheram 0

M Gover run out 5

M Ward lbw Rotheram 18

J Owen run out 14

R Sykes not out 14

D Allan-Jones b Oliphant 1

G Benton b Oliphant 2

D Wade b Ballinger 1

R Openshaw c Morgan b Ballinger 0

Extras 19

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Total 159

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Bowling: B Rotheram 3-41, J Ballinger 3-17, B Oliphant 2-10.