HARTLEY Wintney captain Jamie Teale has delivered a scathing assessment of Basingstoke and North Hants’ team ahead of Saturday’s game between the sides.

The Bountymen sit third in the Southern League Division One table, in touch with the leaders, but Teale insists that his side have little to fear when the teams meet on the village green, describing Basingstoke’s batting as “fragile” and their bowling attack as “easy”.

“I don’t think that Basingstoke have a really strong team,” Teale said. “We nearly beat them at their place and their batting has looked fragile in recent weeks.

“If I win the toss, I will be putting them in to bat. We know what is a good target on our ground and anything up to 350 can be chased.

“When we bat, we will look to attack Martyn James. If we can get him out of his rhythm then the rest of the bowling is pretty easy.”

Hartley only lost by two wickets when the sides met at May’s Bounty on the opening day of the season and the village side eased their relegation concerns last week, beating Andover by seven wickets to move up to seventh in the table.

Having been asked to bat by Teale, Andover scored quickly, but their high run-rate came at a cost and they were bowled out for 272 with almost five overs of their innings left.

Hartley’s reply got off to the perfect start, with Aaron Wivell and Jack Hersh putting together an opening stand of 204.

Australian Wivell made 116 from 131 balls, hitting 13 fours and three sixes, while Hersh made 80 as Hartley won with 11 balls to spare.

Teale said: “It really was crunch time for us after losing three on the bounce. It was crucial that we won, and we won in style.”