HAMBLEDON moved back into second spot in Southern Premier 3 after an emphatic win at Hursley Park, and Liss are now one place and just four points behind the leaders in County Division 1 after defeating Calmore Sports.

Both sides are now in with a definite chance of their respective titles, with two matches left to play.

Having won the toss and decided to bat, openers James Scutt and Simon Milenko put on 79 for the first wicket before Scutt (23) was run out. In the company of George Marshall (19) , Milenko moved on to 67 before being dimissed by veteran spinner Chris Westbrook. His departure saw the innings stutter to 124-4 before Jon Burdekin (25) and Richard Marshall (28) took the score to 180 before Marshall was bowled by Will Evans.

However a rapid 35* from Mackie Hobson including five fours and a six saw Hambledon close on 247-9 off their 50 overs.

In reply, Hursley were soon in trouble with both openers dismissed by Milenko (1-10) and Cam Prentice (1-16) with only 11 on the board. Hursley never recovered, slumping to 97 all out with Hobson (4-30) doing the damage.

Liss v Calmore Sports

LISS were happy to finally get a game in to allow them to push towards promotion.

Visitors Calmore Sports were also pushing towards the top. Liss batted first and got off to a great start. Hall started attacking the bowling immediately and with fellow opener Pleace, somewhat a spectator, smashed Liss past the 50 mark with only 10 overs gone.

Hall continued to punish the bowlers and with a fantastic array of shots moved past his own half-century, the total reaching 144 at the halfway point.

The ever-consistent Pleace clocked up another 50 and Hall reached his first league century of the season. Liss were looking to set a very large target and with 15 overs still to bat were 218-0.

Calmore finally made a breakthrough in the 34th over with Pleace run out for 79. Another two wickets fell quickly, Hall finally falling on 133. The rest of the Liss batsmen, spectators for most of the afternoon, fell cheaply but a few stylish nudges from Sherborne and larger blows from Murphy enabled Liss to set a target of 279.

The Liss attack of Baul and Janczur immediately set to work and tied the visiting batsmen down. A run out in the third over helped build the pressure.

Both Baul and Janczur made breakthroughs leaving Calmore 45-4 after 16 overs. The pace was then taken off the ball with Baker striking in his second over. Although Calmore started to pick up runs the overall target was still a long way off, and the introduction of Cover dashed their hopes. Cover picked up four wickets in just 3 overs.

Baul picked up the final wicket and Liss had won by 129 runs. With only two games remaining Liss look good for yet another promotion.

Scores: Liss 279 (R Pleace jnr 79, J Hall 133, O Murphy 20, M Lavelle 3-42), Calmore Sports 150 (G Pritchard 53, G Lewis 26, M Cook 23*, G Cover 4-26).