REDLYNCH & Hale first team were toppled from their perch at the top of County Div 3 (North) as visiting Andover II clinched victory by a mere five runs.

Batting first, Andover lost wickets steadily until a half century by Phil Greening (55) gave them stability.

Kev Hopkins was in fine form sending down ten overs with a return of 4-34, and three wickets from swing bowler Stan Boardman had the visitors pegged back again as they closed on 190-9.

The Redlynch & Hale reply took an eerily similar pattern to Andover’s innings as Ian Tanner, Tom Bayford and Hopkins were all back in the hutch with only 28 on the board. Glen Willoughby dug in with a valuable 38 in a crucial fifth wicket stand of 53 with Jon Hatchett (27).

Cameos of 18 for Will Powell and 14 from Ben Vincent did keep the target just within reach but the asking rate was creeping up. Boardman (27no) and Ben Brown (17no) batted superbly to give the home side hopes of another victory, but with ten needed from the last over, Aiden Jackson produced an accurate over from which Boardman could only score four of the required runs.

The club's second string also tasted defeat at the hands of Bransgore in their Regional Div 2 (West) match. Jack Vincent's men posted 172-7 with Mickey Dean (38) and Rich Whitmarsh (39no) as Chai Fox's 3-11 was the pick of the bowling.

A fine knock of 59 from Will Wright, supported by George Bratt's 28 and Fox's 21, laid the cornerstones of victory leaving Bransgore to take their side home with three wickets and five overs in hand.

In junior cricket, the under 15s secured their first win of the year by a seven-wicket margin.

Wellow & Plaitford were all out for 58 with Andy Soutar 5-14 and Ewan Tanner 3-16 in good form. R&H knocked off the runs with James Benson scoring 24.

The under 13s comfortably overcame Paultons, scoring 142-3 with Matt Ambrose-Hunt (33), George Hayes (31) and Dylan Hamblin (30) all retiring not out. Debutant Jamie Yeats was the pick of the bowlers with 3-16 as Paultons were all out for 65.

The under 11s, 238-7, fell well short at Wellow & Plaitford who notched up 269-3. However, the under 9s won again, putting up 288-3 in the pairs format of the game, with Ben Wordley (16) top scoring.

Bramshaw could only manage 244-3 in reply.