Liphook came close to a surprise victory over league leaders Havant, eventually losing by two wickets with seven balls left.

Put in to bat, Liphook started brightly, with Steve Riley and Chris Wright, on his 16th birthday, putting on 41 for the first wicket in 10 overs.

But the usual batting collapse followed as Liphook slumped to 46-4, with ex-Ripsley Park stalwart Richard Lewis claiming three wickets in four balls.

Graham Tyler and Andy Brown then set about re-establishing the innings. They batted for over an hour in adding 29 runs before Brown was bowled for 20.

Nick Gay batted well to pick up the scoring rate, adding 43 for the seventh wicket with the solid Tyler.

Gay then fell to a brilliant slip catch by another former Ripsley player, Richard Hindley, and it was left to Tim Wheatley to provide a sting in the tail. He made a valuable 25 in a partnership of 52 for the ninth wicket with Tyler who injected some attacking stroke-play into the latter part of his 144-minute knock.

Liphook reached a reasonable 186-9 in 63 overs, the maximum left to them after a stoppage for rain. Tyler ended 51 not out, having held his side together. Lewis took 4 for 30 in 13 overs and Phil Loat returned excellent figures of 4 for 37 in 20.

Dominic Carson batted positively at the start of Havant's reply and 25 runs came from six overs.

Liphook then turned to their spinners and Ben Jansen and Charlie van der Gucht bowled for the rest of the innings – 36.5 overs.

A lengthy downpour led to more overs being lost and Havant were left a minimum 40 to reach the target. The two spinners bowled very tightly and the required run-rate crept up to more than six an over for the last 12.

Some excellent fielding led to four run-outs in total as Havant began to stutter, but a vital 63 by Luke Sears kept them up with the clock. His was the eighth wicket to fall at 166 with four overs remaining.

The visitors had the scent of a shock victory, but Andy Perry, batting at 9 with a runner after injuring his back, and Benton steered Havant home with just seven balls to spare. Jansen ended with 3 for 74 from 18.5 overs.

LIPHOOK

S Riley lbw Lewis 23

C Wright b Lewis 13

B Jansen b Foulger 4

J Bulled c Perry b Lewis 0

G Tyler not out 51

A Brown b Loat 20

N Gay c Hindley b Lewis 27

D Berry c Hindley b Loat 3

C van der Gucht c Greenfield b Loat 1

T Wheatley c Benton b Loat 25

A Crawford not out 1

Extras 18

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Total (for 9 wkts) 186

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Bowling: R Lewis 4-30, S Foulger 1-29, P Loat 4-37.

HAVANT

D Carson run out 42

S Gillies lbw Wheatley 15

R Hindley run out 6

L Sears c Wright b Jansen 63

R Lewis c and b Jansen 12

P Loat run out 11

S Greenfield run out 4

J Owen b Jansen 6

A Perry not out 6

G Benton not out 13

Extras 7

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Total (for 8 wkts) 185

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Bowling: T Wheatley 1-16, B Jansen 3-74.