Havant point-less appeal rejected by SPCL

Havant went into their penultimate ECB Southern Electric Premier League match at Burridge knowing that their appeal to the league's administrators about not getting 21 points from last week's thrilling last ball win at South Wilts had been rejected.

The recently defeated ECB Club Championship quarter-finalists clung on to win by one run after South Wilts scored 253-9, in reply to Havant's 254-7.

Jubilant Havant left the field thinking they had picked up 21 points from the victory, but then found they had been penalised for exceeding the SPL's stipulated 2 hour 55 minute period, in which they captured seven of the nine South Wilts wickets that fell.

In the closing overs of a Bemerton thriller and as South Wilts edged ever close to the target, Havant took two more wickets to peg Russell Rowe's side to 253-9.

But clock-watching umpires Dave Kirk and Phil Ratcliffe didn't give them an extra point for their efforts - and the Premier League has upheld their decision.

Havant claimed that the problem was caused by injured South Wilts opener Paul Draper having to engage a runner for 30 overs of the Salisbury club's innings.

"It takes a fair while for the batsman and runner to interchange for that length of the time, and our over-rate obviously suffered, through no fault of ours" explained former Havant skipper Paul Gover.

"Draper, who got 56, batted for 90 minutes or so with the aid of a runner and we didn't think the umpires compensated by allowing us additional time in which to get our overs bowled.

"We wrote on the official result sheet that we would be lodging an appeal - for 21 points, as opposed to the 20 we were given.

The SEPL's decision meant that Havant went into the penultimate round of matches a solitary point ahead of BAT Sports, last year's champions.

Their single-run win at South Wilts last week put them marginally top from BAT Sports, who sank to a 27-run defeat at Bashley-Rydal.

BAT, who hosted Andover today, play their final match at Calmore next week, with Havant finishing their programme against fourth-placed Bournemouth at Havant Park.