Opener Tom Kent gains tail end support as Fareham & Crofton recover from dismal start to claim Hampshire League victory over Portsmouth

Chasing the visitors’ 199 all out total at Bath Lane, F & C were facing a heavy defeat when they nosedived to 59-5.

Henry Woolf (3-24) had instigated a collapse, taking the first three wickets to fall - Viraat Sahu (1), Jeremy Bulled (12) and Ollie Southon (4).

But Kent eventually found two partners able to stay with him. First, No 7 Angus Southon (28) helped him add 93 for the sixth wicket before No 8 Luke Gould (27 off 26 balls) shared a seventh wicket partnership of 42.

Skipper James Headen brought the scores level when he hit the second ball of the 49th over - bowled by Joe Eales - to the boundary.

There were no further runs off the over, with Kent taking a match-winning single off the first ball of Ethan Randell’s last over to finish on 91 not out.

After electing to bat, opener Richard Warner (55), Will Smitherman (31), Carlin Joy (24) and Billy Eales (23) had helped second-bottom Portsmouth reach 175-5.

But Warner’s dismissal was the catalyst for the last five wickets to tumble for the addition of just 24 runs, Dan Reader ending with 3-34.

Tyler Sylvester smacked a maiden league century as Burridge 2nds were beaten by promotion hopefuls Old Basing.

The opener struck 16 fours and three sixes in his 94-ball knock as the visitors galloped to 338-9 off 50 overs.

Extras (54) were next best, including 34 wides.

Coincidentally, that was also the case when Burridge replied with 279-9.

Srujith Wickramasinghe struck 53 at the top of the order, with Old Basing conceding 33 wides in a total of 49 extras.

Burridge had fallen to 154-7 before the tail began to wag, started off by Stuart Downs hitting 36 and Brad Griffiths 21.

There was also an unbroken stand of 44 for the last wicket between No 11 Duncan Fraser - hitting a career best 32 not out - and No 10 Peter Wild (9 not out).

Elsewhere in the top flight, Max Loup hit a century on only his third St Cross appearance.

Opening the batting, he struck 102 as the 3rds strolled to an eight-wicket victory after being set 258 by Tichborne Park.

Park remain bottom, but have closed the gap on Portsmouth 2nds to five points. The bottom three go down.