REDLYNCH and Hale secured its fourth straight victory in Hants County Division Two as they entertained South Wilts III at Woodfalls Cross, writes ANDY CHURCH.

James Taylor won the toss and batted with the in-form Ian Tanner stroking Josh Croom to the fence twice in the first over.

Nathan Pollard got a first ball as he offered a return catch to Henry Smith.

When Harvey Boardman was also dismissed early on, it looked ominous, but Charlie Everett came in and all that changed. Hitting 11 fours and two maximums, Everett (71) and Tanner put on 143 for the third wicket.

As is often the case in cricket in a big partnership, when one goes, the other follows and Tanner departed for another fine knock of 79, with his sights on a ton.

Lower down Jack Vincent hit a very nice 41 and Nick Illman 22 as former Redlynch man, Will Hewlett (2-40) accounted for both.

The innings closed on 257-8 with Croom (3-34), Smith (2-39) and Jon Vickery (1-26) the other wicket takers.

After the interval, the home attack were soon in action as Ben Brown snapped up Smith (11) with a return catch and Kev Hopkins (1-50) trapped Chris Chaddock in front for 17.

Brown (2-27) struck again having George Edwards caught at the wicket to make it 62-3.

Then came an extraordinary spell of the most rapid, aggressive quick bowling seen at the ground for some time, as Andy Soutar ripped out the South Wilts middle order with 4 overs, 3-8.

At 79-7 it seemed all over, but visiting skipper Jody Everett had other ideas.

In a fine partnership of 111 with Croom (56 not out), he hit 49 before Soutar (4-37) had him caught by Illman.

A valiant effort, but the overs had run out with his side still 59 runs in arrears. Another fine win for Taylor’s team, who face a testing trip to Basingstoke and N. Hants next up.

The second string was not so fortunate at Paultons as it struggled to 121 all out, with only Ian Stevens defying the attack with 43 not out.

Ottembrajt (3-13) the pick of the bowlers. And although Jack Cobern had Stevenson caught behind first ball, that was to be the only bright spot as George (47 not out) and Ray (67 not out) comfortably saw their team home in just 17 overs.

The third XI had a nightmare at Hale against Hungerford II, succumbing to 114 all out with Andy Kennedy on 38. The visitors duly chased down the low target for the loss of just one wicket.

The fourths had a tough ask against a very keen Farley as Harry Jenkins (85) and Craig Burrows (50) put on 147, before 13 year old Dan Clake got his first ever wicket in senior cricket having Jenkins well caught by Richard Barlow.

Ian Swain (30) kept the momentum going, but Ian Dixon (3-27) slowed things a little as a challenging total of 249-7 was set.

With the side struggling at 33-4, Dixon (31) and Andy Church (30 not out) had to dig in and simply aim to bat the overs and accumulate batting points, finishing on 110-8.

Gary Seymore was the pick of the attack with 8-4-3-4.