Alton’s second team slipped to a narrow ten-run defeat at home to second-placed Sparsholt in Division Three of the Southern Premier Cricket League on Saturday afternoon.

The home side lost the toss and were asked to field first, but with some cloud cover about they hoped to put Sparsholt under pressure early on.

Some relentless areas from Alton’s opening bowlers kept a lid on the scoring rate, but they failed to take an early wicket.

Alton picked up one wicket by drinks, but Sparsholt had plenty of wickets in hand as they looked to pile on the runs.

Luke Crook (two for 56) broke the game back open with two quick wickets, and good spells from Ian Carpenter (two for 51) and Arul Appavoo (two for 38) kept Alton in the hunt, but on an ageing pitch, Sparsholt's 253 for nine off their allotted 50 overs appeared to be an above-par score.

In reply, Alton started slowly against some good new ball bowling.

Sparsholt's spinners used the significant turn on offer on the old pitch effectively, and when a double strike left Alton 84 for four it looked like the target was out of reach.

Sam Bridger was then joined by Matt Crane at the crease, and the pair added 111 for the fifth wicket to put Alton firmly back in the game.

The pair ran well, and Crane used the sweep shot effectively to negate the spin.

Crane eventually fall for 54, but Bridger battled on.

The required run rate began to rise in the final ten overs, but Alton stayed in the game.

Bridger was caught for 99 looking to find the boundary, and Alton ultimately fell just short of a successful chase as they finished on 243 for eight at the end of their allotted 50 overs.