Hawkley v Petersfield: THIS was the first time these two teams had met, and with each team fielding players from a wide age range there was some speculation as to how the sides would compare.

Hawkley skipper Hallam Brown won the toss and decided to bat and Ed Peel and Jamie Prutton opened the innings. Peel in particular looked in fine form, scoring mostly in boundaries as the score quickly mounted. Prutton fell with the score on 33. Paul Cross joined Peel at the crease and the pair kept Hawkley’s momentum going. The score had passed 150 before the second wicket fell when Peel offered a caught-and-bowled chance to Gibson with his score standing at 89. Cross persevered, assisted in turn by Barry Allison and Magan Singodia, and notched up an excellent century on his home debut as Hawkley’s innings closed on 264-5.

Petersfield, with a mountain to climb to overtake their target, started slowly against the accurate spin of Kevin Kinge and the pace of Seamus Evans. The batsmen stuck to their task however and it was not until the tenth over that Hawkley gained a breakthrough when Rory Evans held a catch in the outfield off the bowling of Kinge. Thereafter Petersfield slipped further and further behind the scoring rate although wickets were hard to come by for the Hawkley bowlers. Two late run-outs left Petersfield on 131-7 at the close, Nick Hudson taking three wickets and Kinge and Evans one apiece.