With Captain Al Lewis sunning himself in the south of France, it fell to stand in skipper Andy Grimes to lead this youthful Liphook and Ripsley team in todays game. Grimes had a clear tactic. He was going to win the toss and elect to bat against a Churt side that had so comprehensively beaten Liphook in a pre-season friendly. If we were going to be heavily beaten again, better to get bowled out in 15 overs rather than having to run around the field for the full 40 whilst Churt amassed a mamouth target. Today's game was going to be particularly difficult without John Strong, Al Lewis and Richard Jarratt in the team.

The afternoon started well, with 11 players assembling at the right ground before the match was due to start, and the skipper duly won the toss. From there on, the narrative diverged from Andy's original thoughts as despite the early loss of Charlie Cuervo Moraga, Jess Allcock and Mark Horn dug deep to see off the opening bowlers. Jess was bowled with the score on 44, but Andy Grimes started accelerating the run rate. Will Quinnell joined Grimes with the score on 66 and the two batsmen piled on a partnership of 78. Grimes was caught and replaced by Billy Allcock who scored 17 from 19 deliveries as Liphook took the score to 180/4 from their 40 overs. Quinnell was the standout batsman for Liphook with a mature and controlled innings of 68. Jeremy Cowles was the pick of the Churt bowlers with 5/19, but he was well supported by Alistair Simpson (2/27) and Mike Marmion (3/32).

The Liphook bowlers found it difficult to maintain an accurate line and length on the steep gradient of the wicket, and despite taking an early wicket with a sharply taken catch by Jonny Allcock, batsmen Guy Blackman (91) and Mark Turkington (61 not out) took the game away from Liphook with 7 overs to spare to win by 8 wickets.

A defeat for Liphook, but by a smaller margin than had initially been feared.