Go Richard's!

Farncombe won the toss and elected to bat on a what was initially thought to have been a good batting track, but the Liphook opening bowlers, Rich Grimes (3/22) and Rich Jarratt (3/13) made early breakthroughs to have Farncombe in all sorts of trouble at 19/6. The Liphook fielding was at its best, exemplified by a splendid catch taken by Jarratt from his own bowling. The ball came to him hard and he managed to parry it into the air, falling onto the ground and performing a double somersault before miraculously reaching out and grabbing the ball as it came down. Lee Gregory (17) and Ian Laws (13) tried to get Farncombe back into the game, but they were out in consecutive overs leaving Farncombe reeling on 41/8. Another brief partnership from Simon Russ (10) and Will Baugniet (16 not out) took Farncombe to what had earlier looked like an unlikely looking score of 71, but it never looked that it was going to be anywhere near enough to challenge the Liphook batsmen. John Strong (3/21) and Matt Cansfield (1/13) were the other Liphook wicket-takers.

Lee Gregory and Andy Watkins took early the wickets of Mick Poore (3) and Mark Horn (1) to give Liphook and Ripsley a scare, but John Strong (13 not out) held up his end whilst watching a blistering display of offensive batting from Liphook's man of the match Jarratt who blazed his way to an unbeaten 50 from 38 deliveries. Liphook's 8 wicket victory moved them higher in the I'Anson Division 6 league table and personal glory was to be found for Grimes who sits second in the I'Anson bowling charts for the 2021 season with 14 wickets at an average of under 6 and for Jarratt who is fourth in the batting charts with 167 runs at an average of over 55. Liphook will be looking forward to the next few games with some real enthusiasm.