SPCL1 Week18 - Gallant Calmore relegated in narrow defeat

Gallant Calmore Sports have missed ECB Southern Electric Premier League survival by just three runs.

Two wickets off the last two balls of Roger Miller's final over of the season left Calmore 164 all out - two runs adrift of Andover, whose batsmen had ground out 166-7 on a poor London Road surface.

"Another three runs and we'd have been safe," sighed Calmore skipper Tom Pegler, whose side had won only two of its previous 16 matches. "But we weren't relegated on Saturday night - more like 15 weeks ago."

Survival was firmly in Calmore's hands as they approached their critical finale to the season in the knowledge that Havant had already beaten relegation rivals Portsmouth by five wickets.

A win would have meant safety for Calmore - but it didn't happen.

The prospects looked good all the time James Hibberd (41) remained at the crease, but his dismissal at 119-6 proved crucial.

"All the time Hibbo was in, we fancied ourselves, but we still blew it in the end," Pegler groaned.

Clive Surry (16) and Dave Rouse lifted Calmore to within nine runs of victory off the last ten balls of the match.

They got four of the six runs they needed off Miller's final over - only to have Surry trapped leg before and John Wall bowled off the last two balls of the season.

It left Calmore 164 all out - and bottom of the Premier League.

Andover battled hard to reach 166-7 after being put into bat on a damp surface clearly affected by the previous day's heavy rain.

Toby Radford top scored with 27 - but took almost 40 overs to do it - while Roger Miller (25) and Ian Langdown (23) made what proved vital contributions.

Havant beat Portsmouth by five wickets with seven balls to spare at St Helen's, Southsea, where Michael Barnes (43), Naqeeb Ali Mohammed (36) and Ben Thane (32) top scored in the hosts 203-9.

But a splendid 86 from Andrew Perry, aided by Simon Barnard (38) and Chirs Wright (31), carried Havant to victory.