ALTON’S bowlers looked rusty on the opening day of the Southern Premier League, now sponsored by 21six, and this ultimately led to defeat at the Jubilee Ground.

Overseas player Marco Marais and young off- spinner Xavier Bochereau, formerly of Holybourne, made their league debuts for the Brewers who elected to bowl first.

And things started well as Ben Mortimer dismissed the openers with 40 runs on the board.

But Bashley newcomer Tim Taylor stood firm and he and skipper Michael Porter built a century partnership to put the visitors in a strong position. Taylor reached 50 before being bowled by Mark Heffernan and Porter moved to a match-winning 113 off 103 balls, giving his side a commanding total of 272-6.

Mortimer was impressive and Bochereau bowled well without much luck, but Alton were left to rue dropped catches and a massive 42 extras.

The home side needed a strong start, but were 64-3 and well off the pace, with potential match-winner Marais back in the pavilion.

However, opener Michael Heffernan and skipper Scott Myers got a foothold in the game and the pair added 88, moving the score to 152, when Myers was caught for 46.

Heffernan took the attack to the bowlers as partners came and went, but Alton were realistically only chasing bonus points. The resilient Heffernan had reached 90 off 131 balls when he was caught off the bowling off Brad Currie and the hosts were all out for 225, losing by 47 runs.

In their Division One opener, Liphook & Ripsley seemed to have done all the hard work after dismissing Sarisbury for 133. But the home bowlers made even better use of the helpful conditions at Allotment Road and the visitors were tumbled out for just 58 in 21 overs.

Charles Janczur invited Sarisbury to bat and the home side were indebted to Guernseyman Tom Nightingale whose gritty 50 enabled them to post a defendable score.

Jack Campbell bowled a fine spell and Janczur conceded a miserly 14 runs in 10 overs, while fit-again Sean Burton swept through the lower order with 5-10 in 7.3 overs.

But a curtain needs to be drawn over Liphook’s reply. Batting ten men due to an injury to debutant Sam Franks, they never got going against a mean attack, headed by Andy Ireland (3-16) and Phil Jewell (3-8), and were skittled out for 58.

Liphook had a better day on Sunday, winning by seven runs in their Village Cup first-round match at Sparsholt.

Half-centuries by Ryan Covey (64) and Harry Munt (54) put Liphook on course for a big total, but Lewis Mitchard included a hat-trick in his 5-31 and the visitors, 140-2 at one stage, struggled to 186 all out.

Captain Jeremy Frith (46) and Mitchard (42) kept Sparsholt in the hunt and it needed some good bowling by Burton (2-38), Ryan Covey (3-36) and George Neave (2-26) to swing the game Liphook’s way. Covey took the final wicket with Sparsholt needing just eight runs.

Rowledge were denied any action on Saturday. Their SPL Division Two match at Paultons was called off.

Farnham, after a valiant fightback in their first Surrey Championship Division One game of the season, lost to Chipstead by one wicket.

Inserted on a very lively track at the Park, Farnham found it tough going from the outset and were teetering at 36-3 against the very accurate Chipstead seamers.

Opener Nathan Thorpe and James Berry took their side to drinks with some watchful batting and continued to manipulate the spinners nicely until Thorpe, having reached a hard-fought 35, chipped a catch back to Nikhil Patel.

Farnham never really broke free and although batting out their 50 overs, posted a modest 125-9.

But it proved to be a competitive total in the tricky conditions. Opening bowlers Rob Dale and Rob Goldsworthy struggled to control the new ball and Chipstead cruised along at first, enjoying the rub of the green as Nick Woods and Chris Thompson added 71 for the second wicket.

It was the introduction of spin from both ends, in the form of Matt Clarke and Thorpe, that brought Farnham back into the game. That and some kamikaze running as Chipstead conspired to lose eight wickets while adding 30 runs. The spinners shared five wickets and the fielders took their three run-out chances superbly as Chipstead collapsed to 124-9. 

This set up a nail-biting final few overs, but Chipstead finally inched their way over the line with a risky single – it was so nearly a fourth run-out of the innings.

Promoted Churt opened their account in Division Three of the Championship with a 19-run victory over Cheam.

Like many grounds after a wet April, the Rec was bowler-friendly and Churt seemed to be facing certain defeat after being dismissed for just 125.

Sam Wright and Naveed Hanif (1-17 in 10 overs) bowled particularly well for Cheam and, in the context of the game, the sixes hit by Toby Finneran, Rowley Marshall, Eric Osner and Arran Higgins were to prove significant blows.

Opener Wright (31) resisted long and hard for Cheam while the other batsmen fell victim to the experienced Dave Thomas (4-11 in 7) and Marshall (4-29 in 10).

The tailenders mounted a fightback, but Rob Tusler chipped in with a key wicket and Cheam were dismissed for 106.

Haslemere suffered an agonising one-run defeat at Maori Oxshott on their debut in Division Four. Oli Ellis (4-22) reduced Maori to 30-3 and after Tom Day (63) and skipper Henry Thorpe (49) had staged an excellent recovery, Scott Boxall weighed in with 5-19 in seven overs as the home side went from 130-3 to 178 all out.

Haslemere were always in the hunt, thanks to 40 from opener Chris Hooker and consistent scoring by the late order. Brad Goodsell (4-19) bowled a vital spell and with Nick Day producing a superb final over, it culminated in a nail-biting finish, Haslemere needing two runs off the last ball with their last pair at the wicket. Paul Jarmain was run out and Maori had snatched victory.

Farnham 2nd XI suffered in the field away to East Molesey II (2nd XI Premier). The home side got away to a blistering start, with skipper Kieran Burge (65) leading the way. Farnham pegged them back to 64-3, but Paul Malkin joined Burge in a partnership of 102 and despite new captain Jamie Strachan bowling a good ‘death’ spell, East Molesey totalled a formidable 258-8.

Strachan and Wes Taylor gave Farnham the start they needed with a busy opening stand of 50, but the visitors struggled to maintain the run-rate and as pressure built, wickets fell. Taylor top-scored with 40, but Farnham stumbled to 142 all out, Zain Rizvi doing the damage with 6-10 in nine overs.

Having negotiated heavy traffic en route to the coast, Alton 2nd XI lost to Hythe & Dibden by 4 wickets in Hampshire County One.

The powerful Mike Salmon (40) put Alton in a good position, but he finally lost a tussle with spinner Wayne Rogan and Alton subsided to 138 all out.

The Alton bowlers made Hythe work hard for the runs, but Matt Young’s 48 ensured victory for the hosts.

Toby Fuller gave a faultless display behind the stumps and Ellis Ballinger bowled well to take his first two wickets for the side.