BASINGSTOKE and North Hants so nearly plucked a victory from the jaws of defeat, against visiting Fawley at May’s Bounty on Saturday, in their Southern League Division One clash.

The visitors looked to be cruising to victory thanks to century man Tom Gates, as they need 18 runs to win from nine overs with six wickets left.

However, Gates’ departure for 126 (18 fours and three sixes), signalled a tail end wobble.

With one run added, the impressive Dan King (2-21) clean bowled Callum Earl (10) to leave Fawley with two batsman without a run to their name.

With six overs left and having scored just four runs in the previous five overs, which included a maiden from King.

James Woolgar decided to swing the bat and Matt Thankachan went for six.

The spin bowler hit back and thanks to a catch from Dan Coombs another wicket fell.

The next over saw paceman Patrick Joseph knock over the stumps of Woolgar to make the score 221-8.

Three more runs were added before Thankachan added more pressure with another maiden to leave the visitors needing five off 18 balls with two wickets remaining.

They managed to scramble home thanks to Elijah Turriff-Smith and Wayne Smith to win by two wickets with seven balls to spare.

Earlier in the day on a very damp pitch, Basingstoke were put into bat and made 228-7, with opener Chris Froud (60) and Dan Coombs (51) their top scorers.

Reflecting on the defeat Froud said: “They certainly had the better of the conditions as the pitch, but take nothing away from the guy who scored a ton.

“We bowled too many four balls and gave too many extras today and this has cost us. I felt we needed a score of around 250 260 today and it ended up being the case.”

Despite the loss there were some positives to come out of the game, as Froud added: “Dan King has bowled well today and got us back into the game with a couple of wickets.”

Next week, the Bountymen travel to Liphook and Ripsley looking to maintain their 100 per cent away record in the league.

Basingstoke second team had a bad day at the office as they lost by 10 wickets at Trojans, who reeled off their third straight win in Division Three.

The visitors won the toss and decided to bat and having reached 90-3 thanks to top scorer Richard Vinn (43) they slumped to 91-7.

Rakitha Perera (35) and Chris Chandler (28) staged a recovery with an eighth wicket stand worth 68, but the Bountymen were all out for 178, as Syed Mahmood took 5-28.

The home side then rattle off the runs without losing a wicket, thanks to Edward Boyd (101) and Simon Williams (69).

The defeat saw the second team knocked off the top-of-the-table, and this week they face promotion rivals Bashley (Rydal) II at May’s Bounty.