Ropley beat the town club rather more comfortably this time, the margin being 20 runs at Medstead CC last Thursday.
The dark clouds that obstinately hovered over this high ground made batting second a hazardous business, especially against Ropley's overseas star Gavin Tonge.
The Antiguan all-rounder is distinctly quick and with the murky light and uneven bounce, he made life very unpleasant for Alton's batsmen.
Although taking only one wicket, Tonge conceded just 14 runs in his five overs and, after their pedestrian start, Alton were never up with the pace.
Tonge had already made his mark with the bat, scoring an aggressive 47. Sam Rees had dismissed Stroud for a duck, but a second-wicket stand of 94 between Chris Graham and Tonge made sure of a substantial score. Graham's 49 contained several handsome strokes, while Tonge made most of his runs with ferocious blows over mid-on.
Martin Peters and David Buckland added valuable runs and Ropley ended on 134-7 from their 20 overs. Andy Tapp took three good wickets, but Alton should have made better use of the lanky Bruce Oliphant whose one over showed that he would have made the ball bounce steeply.
Local opinion judged that Ropley had enough runs – and so it proved, although the fading light and Tonge's pace made Ropley's task easier.
Richard Morgan eventually got the score moving with two splendid sixes, but spooned up a catch soon afterwards off Mark Munday who bowled a vital spell of spin. He had Gary Chalkley stumped and later had the dangerous Oliphant well taken by Peters off a towering hit.
Julian Ballinger, another 'big gun', was brilliantly caught by Stroud off a full-blooded drive and, at 77-5 after 14 overs, Alton were out of contention.
Mark Heffernan's cheeky charging of Tonge was appreciated by the Alton camp, as was a bold boundary by Tapp, but at the close the town side had limped to 105-7 and sportingly acknowledged Ropley's superiority on the night.
Chris Graham (batting) and Mark Munday (bowling) took the man-of-the-match awards.
Medstead CC president Tony Chivers presented the cup and paid tribute to the work of Ken Kercher who has been running the Medstead Knockout Competitions for more than 30 years.
ropley
T Stroud c and b S Rees 0
C Graham c Russell b Ballinger 49
G Tonge b Tapp 47
M Peters c Hehir b Oliphant 12
D Buckland c Hehir b Tapp 13
B Green c S Rees b Tapp 3
J Coleman run out 2
J Happel not out 0
Extras 8
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Total (for 7 wkts) 134
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Bowling: S Rees 1-33, L Rees 0-24, J Ballinger 1-29, A Tapp 3-38, B Oliphant 1-7.
ALTON
M P Heffernan c Tongue b Phillips 5
R Morgan c Phillips b Munday 16
B Oliphant c Peters b Munday 24
G Chalkley st Graham b Munday 1
J Ballinger c Stroud b Phillips 13
M J Heffernan c Peters b Tonge 10
J Russell c Green b Happel 11
S Rees not out 6
A Tapp run out 6
L Rees not out 0
Extras 22
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Total (for 8 wkts) 114
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Bowling: G Tonge 1-14, D Newton 0-21, M Munday 3-30, J Phillips 2-22, J Happel 1-17.