HOOK and Newnham Basics CC will hope it is third time lucky on Saturday, after rain wiped out their first two games of their Southern League Division One campaign.

Last weekend, Hook did manage to get out in the centre for 48 overs of cricket in testing conditions, before one last heavy shower saw the game abandoned.

At this point, visiting Sarisbury had reached 217-6 having recovered from 28-3 after an excellent opening spell from Spencer Champ (1-42) on his debut and Shane Brewer (2-36).

The visitors overseas star Peter Hammond (73) and David Banks (62) staged a recovery and in between coming on and off the pitch three times Kieran Thomson managed to grab a couple of wickets.

Hook captain Matt Love was impressed with his bowling attack and said: “The guys did well with the wet ball and it was wet when we started and got no easier as the game went on.”

On Saturday, Hook have their first away game of the season as they travel to Hambledon.

Returning after missing last week is opening batsman Ben Thane and Love himself is going to have a late fitness test on his shoulder to see if he can play.

Hambledon is one of the toughest venues to play in the Southern League and Love is fully aware of this and said: “They know how to play on their pitch. We have to go there and dig in as it is a difficult place to score runs. We may still be a young team, but we should have enough experience at this level to get a result there.”