LONGPARISH dug themselves out of a hole at 30-4 and went on to beat Easton & Martyr Worthy by ten runs and so record a fifth successive Hampshire League County Division One victory.

With Hythe & Dibden slipping up against Bournemouth II, Parish go into Saturday’s home game with Portchester 20 points clear at the top.

On a verdant track at the David Roth Ground that only 24 hours before had borne puddles on either end, Longparish were sent into bat and at 30-4 were in some difficulty, writes Chris de Cani.

But an astute 101-ball halfcentury from Paul Blackmore (56) and 32 from Sam Trinder restored some semblance of order as Longparish closed at 139, with Adam Kite taking 4-13 and Rachel Carrick 2-11 off eight-over stints.

The match took a decisive twist when Harry Martin picked up the wicket of Easton’s young Australian run gun Matt Chamberlain – setting in motion one of the best displays in the field by a Longparish senior side in recent memory.

Alex Coetzee (1-16 off ten overs) bowled superbly and Ben Gardner took 3-35, while teenage wicketkeeper William Samways conceded only a single bye to a Longparish attack operating at full steam with a moving ball.

Another teen, Callum Giles held onto a steepler of a catch to dismiss the dangerous Griffin for 23.

With ten runs required off the final two overs and with two wickets in hand, Easton remained favourites, but in the penultimate over of the match young Scott Sturt (4-25) took a stunning return catch to dismiss Ian Stuart (18) and then bowled Easton’s last man with his next ball to leave EMW 129 all out.

Longparish III’s lost their unbeaten Regional 3 North record when their IBM Hursley counterparts pipped them by one wicket at the climax to a low scoring game. They were indebted to skipper Martin Bearpark (44) and Jamie Blackmore (23) as they were dismissed for 115 at Bakers Farm.

IBM Hursley II looked to be easing to a comfortable win when U15 colts bowler Jordan Blackmore claimed three quick. IBM last man Reuben McRobert struck a boundary to secure a one wicket win for the visitors.