Clements takes four wickets as resurgent Woodhay shrug off slow start with successive wins

After losing their first four Hampshire Cricket League Division 1 matches, a resurgent East Woodhay won for the second weekend in succession, beating Portsmouth by four wickets.

Skipper Joe Lawrance won the toss and put Portsmouth into bat and the hosts made a good start, with the first wicket falling with the score 19/1 when Richard Dando ran out one of the visiting openers.

Dando soon had a wicket with ball in hand and Samuel Clements, Andy Longstreet and George Walters also got in on the act, but Portsmouth were nevertheless able to put together some partnerships, including a 62-run third wicket stand and 56-runs for the fifth wicket, as the visitors reached 210/6.

Longstreet (2-39) proved by far the most economical of Woodhay's bowlers from his 10 overs, but it was Clements who was the most clinical, claiming three wickets in quick succession to finish with figures of 4-45 despite going at more than seven runs an over.

Dando, who took the final wicket to fall, was somewhere in between, bowling 9.1 overs for figures of 2-45 as Portsmouth were all-out for 271.

Woodhay, who have struggled for runs at times so far this season - despite scoring 306 in a losing cause against Ferndown Wayfarers a fortnight ago - made a decent start with the bat as Joe Lawrance and Adam Barnes put on 51 for the first wicket before Barnes was out for 10.

Lawrance then linked up with Toby Talbot-Williams to good effect, the pair adding 87 before the captain was trapped lbw for 52.

Talbot Williams wasn't far behind him when he was denied a half century and was out for 46 as the hosts stumbled somewhat, losing a couple of quick wickets and slumping from 137/2 to 170/5.

However the cool head of Jack Chapman, who finished unbeaten on 53, allowed George Walters to throw caution to the wind, smashing five sixes and seven fours in a blistering innings of 67 as Woodhay bludgeoned their way to back-to-back wins, reaching 275/6 in the 46th over.

Meanwhile, a wonderful unbeaten 120 from David Maddocks inspired Donnington to a five wicket win over Crown Taverners 2nd in Division 5 North East.

Donnington, who won the toss and put Crown Taverners into bat, restricted the visitors to 188/5 from their 40 overs thanks to some economical bowling, none more so than Simon Keeble, who picked up three wickets for the concession of just 11 runs across a superb eight over spell.

In response, opener Maddocks made all the difference, his match-winning 120 not-out coming from just 105 balls and including a staggering 21 fours and two sixes.

It was a good thing Maddocks was in the mood, because none of the rest of Donnington's top five reached double figures - scoring a combined 14 runs between them.

Maddocks just needed someone to stay with him and Adrian Waters managed to do just that, scoring 25 runs in a sixth wicket partnership of 109 that helped the hosts over the line with more than 10 wickets to spare.

Elsewhere, Ashford Hill moved up to second in a finely balanced Division 4 North following a 157-run demolition of Hursley Park 3rd.

Opener Ollie Williams scored a well-made 77 and Sandeep Shrikande added 40 as Ashford Hill set their visitors a target of 222 - despite the fact they failed to add a single run for the loss of their final five wickets, meaning they collapsed from 221/5 to 221 all-out.

Adnan Khan, who was one of those five wickets to fall, wasted little time in dismantling the visitors batting line up, teaming up with Ben Osborne - who removed both openers - to reduce Hursley Park to 48/8, with Khan celebrating a five-fer.

Tom Moore and Edward Liddeatt then cleaned up the tail as Hursley were all-out for a humbling 64, an innings that included one double figure score and a staggering five scores of 0.

In Division 6 North East, a ruthless bowling performance helped AWE Tadley to a comprehensive eight wicket win over Froxfield 2nd.

Kieran Monger (3-12), Mark Clay (3-20) and Ian Pearson (3-28) did the damage with the ball as Froxfield were all-out for 139 inside 40 overs.

An unbeaten 68 from opener William Belfield, along with lively cameos from Kieran Monger (24), Will Phillpot (21) and Tom Minshull (13 not-out) then saw Tadley surpass the visitors' meagre total in less than 24 overs and with eight wickets in hand.