HARTLEY Wintney recorded their first Southern League Division One double of the season with victory over Liphook and Ripsley at the weekend.

However, the village side are still bottom of the pile and need to win their last three games, starting with a trip to Rowledge, who are just above the relegation zone, to escape the drop.

When these sides last met in the middle of June, Hartley lost at home by 31 runs, but Rowledge come into the game on the back of two losses.

Captain Scott Baldwin is fully aware of what his side have to do and said: “We will go into the game believing we can win.

“We have beaten them once in the previous three years and do not want them to carry on their sequence against us.”

Wicket-keeper Dave Arnold has recovered from the finger injury that kept him out of the side last week. Australian Lee Weiss took over the gloves against Liphook, taking two catches.

Last Saturday, Baldwin admitted it was a good toss to lose as visiting Liphook were bowled out for 144, with Chris Jolley and Roy Cockram taking three wickets each.

Cockram then completed a great day from a personal point of view, top scoring with 42 as the hosts side got home with 11 overs to spare and four wickets in hand.

Baldwin said: “I would have batted, but things turned out really well.

“The bowlers exploited the pitch and Roy (Cockram) got out Sam Ganguly, who looked in really good nick.

“From there we kept taking wickets and made it difficult for them.”

Talking about the Hartley reply, the captain said: “We knew that if we batted for 50 overs we would get 144.

“It was all about partnerships and what we did was not try to pinch too many runs or take chances.”

After this weekend, Hartley entertain Andover, who are also in the relegation zone. They then finish their campaign with a trip to sixth-placed Fawley.