Go Richards!

After winning the toss, skipper Al Lewis elected to field on a damp cricket pitch with lots of rain forecast for the afternoon. Tilford openers Philip Knight and Mark Bussell looked to settle in well and although runs were hard to find, they looked untroubled as they took the score to 28. But after having been told that his fourth was going to be the last over of his opening spell, Richard Grimes promptly took two wickets to persuade Al to keep him on. His slower delivery forced Mark Bussell (11) into driving before the ball had properly come to him and he screamed at the nearby fielders to get lost as he was going to claim the catch himself. Richard followed this up by removing the other opener Philip (14) with his next delivery. Richard Jarrett replaced Charlie Cuervo Moraga (1/37) and in his first over bowled George Dickson for a duck. Tilford had been looking pretty good at 28 without loss, but when Alex Grogut was caught by the Andy Grimes without scoring they were in deep trouble at 30/4. Jonny Franks (22) and Alex MacDonald (5) added 29 for the fifth wicket and this brought Alistair Macdonald to the wicket. S Henderson (5), Martin Knott (7) and Ian Fosten (2) managed to stay and give support to Macdonald as he started to take the game to the Liphook bowlers with a tremendous innings of 46 from only 48 balls. Tilford were in desperate need for someone to make an impact on the match and Macdonald's knock took the score to 124 as they were all out in the 35th over. Grimes (4/16) and Jarrett (3/17) were the stars of the Liphook bowling attack as they took 7 Tilford wickets for just 33 runs in a combined spell of 17 overs. John Strong (2/30) and Moraga (1/37) took the other Tilford wickets.

Rain interruptions reduced the number of overs available to Liphook to 22 and a score of 69 to chase. Liphook found batting difficult on the increasingly damp wicket and John Strong (12). Mick Poore (2), Al Lewis (0) and Henry Poore (7) all went cheaply leaving Liphook struggling at 28/4. Jarrett and Moraga then proved themselves as able with the bat as they were with the ball and wrestled the initiative back from Tilford. Jarratt was out for an entertaining 26 from 27 deliveries leaving Andy Grimes (3 not out) to join Moraga and watch him hit the winning runs as he moved to an impressive 16 not out moments before the heavens opened with another deluge which would have forced the game to be abandoned. Liphook won by 5 wickets with two overs remaining.