East Meon v Hawkley: HAWKLEY travelled to East Meon with an under-strength team expecting a tough game against strong opponents who had dominated their previous encounters.

The home team won the toss and chose to bat. The opening partnership of Jeff Wheeler and Lakh Jemmett made a cautious start against accurate bowling from Hawkley’s Kevin Kinge and Chris Huntley. East Meon had scored 45 from the first 15 overs before Jemmett skied a ball from Kinge, which Paul Cross took well at mid-off. Thereafter East Meon accelerated and both Wheeler and James Atkinson went on the offensive against the Hawkley bowlers, whose task was not helped by several dropped catches. Atkinson fell for 59 to an excellent catch by his brother standing in as substitute fielder, and Wheeler completed an unbeaten century as East Meon declared at tea with the score on 223-5. Among the Hawkley bowlers Kinge took two wickets in a marathon spell of 13 overs, Nick Hudson picked up two and Hallam Brown had one victim.

Hawkley’s reply to their challenging target began with Paul Cross hitting some booming drives in an opening partnership with Nick Davis in a supporting role. Cross eventually fell for a battling 39 before Hawkley skipper Hallam Brown took up the challenge with some clean hitting before falling for 30. All the Hawkley batsmen put up a fight but runs came slowly and salvaging a draw became the best that Hawkley could hope for. East Meon sportingly rotated their bowlers to keep the game alive and Donald Eames and Hudson kept out the last few overs as the game ended in a draw. Hawkley finished their innings on 98-7.