WINTERBOURNE sealed a 48-run victory over absence-hit Ringwood in Hampshire Regional Division 1 West.

On winning the toss, stand-in home captain Jamie Harvey was undecided on whether to take first use of the only new ball and a strong Ringwood attack, but eventually played it safe and decided to bat on what looked like a very hard and bouncy wicket.

Harvey was reunited with opening partner Matt Windows and the scoreboard was ticking over quickly thanks to an abundance of wides and byes from some wayward early season bowling. Alex Gould looked like he had the pace to be able to trouble the batsmen but was spraying it around early on and racking up the wides which would eventually total an incredible 44 throughout the innings.

After five overs the score was 24 without loss, with just four runs coming from the bat. Gould eventually got into his rhythm and bowled a beauty to Windows which clean bowled him for two. Craig Johnson joined Harvey and both struggled to get on top of the bowling but kept the board ticking over until Johnson was caught in the 15th over for 17.

They kept things going nicely as they closed 264-4 from their 42 overs.

In reply, it quickly became clear that Ringwood would be relying on one man if they were to win the game – their captain Craig Seymour. Despite an excellent bowling attack, which included Nick Lawrence, Nick Fiddy and Vaughn Browne, none of the bowlers could make a breakthrough as Ringwood progressed to 69 without loss after 19 overs. However, Seymour was eventually out for 126 as Ringwood closed on 216-5.