A LATE-ORDER collapse left Rowledge just three runs short in a lively Southern Premier League Division One match at home to Portsmouth.

Asked to field first, Rowledge made a great start when David Lloyd ran skipper Richard Locke out by a distance. Jake Wish had James Christian caught by Ian Metcalfe and with spin again introduced early, George Keeley bowled dangerman Fraser Hay through the gate and then had Jack Marston superbly taken by Richard Forbes, leaving the visitors 74-4.

However, Portsmouth knuckled down and Inderpal Singh Nandra made certain they reached a defendable total.

Particularly keen on the leg-side boundary, he struck 80 off 82 balls, including six sixes and five fours. Alex Hammond made a breezy 29, but with Chris Board (2-29) and Sushant Balajee (3-36) sharing five wickets, Portsmouth were all out for a gettable 198.

Rowledge, in turn, were struggling at 73-4. Tom Gleave (22) got a start, but it was left to Balajee and Metcalfe to get the home side back into the game.

The pair were positive and put the pressure back on the bowlers. At 128-4, the momentum was with Rowledge, but at that critical point, Hay bowled Metcalfe for 19 and the game was wide open again.

Joe Randall played an excellent innings in the circumstances – busy at the crease and quick to punish anything loose. He and Balajee added a further 47 runs before the New Zealander was run out for a fluent 53.

An extremely tight contest was going to the wire and a gift of 37 extras should have helped Rowledge over the line.

But the tail failed to perform. Inderpal trapped Randall in front for 35, Hay removed Ben Wish and when the accurate Inderpal bowled Jake Wish, Rowledge were all out for 195 with ten balls still remaining.