WITH the Longparish Lightweights, Premier Division Champions of two seasons ago, now mothballed, the Longparish Longhops form the vanguard of the club’s pursuit of indoor honours and skippered by Paul Blackmore they sit atop Division One of the Dummer Indoor Cricket League with three wins out of three.

Oakley were felled in the opening fixture of the Dummer Cricket League as Michael Taplin hit 21, Matt Jackman 20 and Scott Sturt 17 in a 67-run win, and against St Marys, Gary Taplin and Tim Oram picked up wickets and Sturt was unbeaten on 26, Gary Taplin 25 and Dan Pomroy 20 to secure a four wicket win.

Sherfield were thumped the following week to make it a fine start.

In the Winchester and District Indoor League Longparish faced a difficult task in their first match against the mighty RAM who batted first and were all out for 91 with Barry Blackmore taking two wickets and Ben Gardner and Martin Savage one each. George Kousseff top scored with 18 and looked to be in control before he was run out. Matt Jackman added 16 but the excellent Zuqurhan delivered the coup de grace by cleaning up Martin Savage to secure a 16-run win.

Mathew Jackman bowled his best spell to take 3-11 as Hursley Park were dismissed for 107. Two run-outs and two wickets for Dawson set Longparish back but Scott was unbeaten on 53 as Longparish closed 19 runs short.

The U16s have dominated the Winchester and District U16 League for some years now and this winter’s campaign started with a 54-run mauling of IBM Hursley. Harry Samways hit 18, Jamie Blackmore 25, Scott Sturt 25 and William Samways 28 as Longparish U16 posted 146. Four run-outs and a wicket each for Sturt and Harry Samways sealed the win with the best part of four overs remaining.

This year, for the first time, Longparish are fielding an U14 side and in the inaugural league encounter, Fair Oak dismissed them for 109 with Jordan Blackmore striking 17, William Samways 26 and Callum Giles 27. A superb fielding display produced three run-outs and restricted the reply which closed five runs short of victory.

In the North Hampshire U15 Top division, Longaprish lie third with two wins out of three. Callum Giles, Alex Brinton and Jordan Blackmore picked up a wicket each as Andover U15 were all out for 111. Longparish U15 lost 4 wickets but William Arnold was unbeaten on 12 alongside Scott Sturt who was unbeaten on 25 as Longparish passed the target with an over and a bit remaining.

Scott Sturt hit an unbeaten 28 and Callum Giles an unbeaten 31 as Longparish set Yateley U15 a target of 134 for victory. Alex Brinton picked up a wicket and Callum Giles took 2 for 27 to clinch a 22 run win.

A low-scoring four wicket defeat against top of the table Basingstoke U15 followed in which William Samways top scored with 15 and Jordan Blackmore struck 13.

The U13s lie fourth in the North Hampshire U13 League after starting the season with a win and a loss.