SATURDAY’S vital victory in the local derby propelled Rowledge closer to mid-table, while dropping Liphook & Ripsley from fifth to third from bottom, such is the close-packed nature of the bottom half of the Southern Premier League Division One.

The toss was crucial, with the Rowledge wicket offering both turn and variable bounce, and it was Liphook’s misfortune to be inserted by Ben Wish, although the visitors made a pretty poor fist of combating the conditions.

They never recovered from the double blow landed by Richard Forbes. In his first over, Forbes bowled Gabe Broadhurst through the gate and when, in his next over, the seamer had Rob Nicklin snaffled at first slip by Ian Metcalfe, Liphook were 9-2.

A period of rebuilding followed, with Suman Ganguly looking to be positive in the tricky conditions. But with 29 runs added, a mix-up between the batsmen led to Sushant Balajee running out acting captain Giles Cover.

Wish introduced the spin of George Keeley and David Lloyd and the run-rate dried up almost completely.

The two slow bowlers between them returned match figures of 17.4-10-22-6. Keeley has both Ganguly and Dan Wrenn caught by Jake Wish at mid-on, looking to hit over the top, and trapped Ben Tibble bang in front and then had George Neave taken smartly by Metcalfe, again at first slip.

Lloyd bowled Grant Rouse with a ball that kept low and, at 56-8, Chris Board got in on the action by removing Jack Campbell.

At 66-9, Sean Burton and Dave Elliott held up the bowlers, adding 15 runs before Lloyd returned to end the innings at 81, with Burton left stranded on 18 not out.

An inadequate total, but Rowledge were still going to have to apply themselves. Liphook bowled well, but didn’t have enough runs to defend.

Ganguly bowled Tom Gleave for 19 with the score at 29 and then Balajee was castled by Neave for a compact 25.

Burton bowled an excellent spell and induced Lloyd to edge behind and then Neave clean-bowled Sam Moseley with an excellent delivery.

The result was never in doubt, though, and, with four wickets down, Joe Randall ended the game with a flurry of boundaries.

Rowledge make the long trip to fourth-placed Bournemouth this Saturday, with Liphook at home to Portsmouth.