STEEPLE Langford firsts moved up to sixth in County Division 3 North with a hard-earned 76-run win away at Hook and Newnham Basics thirds.

Being put into bat first, and without their regular opening batsmen, Langford found themselves in deep trouble at 32 for 5 against an excellent young bowling attack .

Chris Mundy and Gary Smith took the score to 138 before the latter mistimed a drive to be caught for an excellent 62, but the tail then started wagging with skipper Andy Bennett out for a quick 12. Moments later, Mundy followed suit for a classy 55.

Another couple of cameo innings from Liam Harvey, Pete Smith (15*) and Luke Stephens got Langford to a decent 187 for 9 on a wicket with some variable bounce.

In reply, it was a similar start for the home team who found themselves at 51 for 5 after 20 overs, with all of the batsmen struggling to get the excellent Langford bowling away. Once again, Armstrong (17) and Hewetson-Brown (24) performed well for H&NB, putting on 46 for the sixth wicket, but it was slow going against tidy bowling and fielding.

With the run rate up to nearly 10 an over, Bennett brought himself on and soon dismissed both the main run scorers and the innings then petered out to 111 all out with Bennett taking 3 for 4 from 5 overs. All of the other Langford bowlers had disciplined spells with Partridge being the pick, taking 4 for 23 and Gary Smith rounded off a very good day with three catches.

Lowly Steeple Langford seconds, fresh from last week's maiden win, went down by five wickets at home to high-flying Totton and Eling which added pressure to their hopes of avoiding relegation in Regional Division 2 West.