THE thunderstorms that swamped parts of southern England on Saturday afternoon did not save Basingstoke and North Hants' first-team cricketers from a disappointing 64-run defeat at Burnham.

The outcome left Chris Chandler's men wishing the rain-affected match had been cancelled instead of being reduced to a limited-overs encounter.

That way, they would have picked up a few more league points in their ongoing efforts to lift themselves out of the Home Counties division two west bottom three. But, as it transpired on Saturday, they slumped to 98 all out in 35.5 overs, chasing Burnham's 162-5 to gain a paltry two points.

Skipper Chandler took 4-27 in Burnham's 39 overs, and Basingstoke and North Hants cricket section chairman Keith Harris, recalled to the side after three weeks out with a shoulder injury, said the side felt optimistic they could surpass the hosts' tally.

However, the unpredictable nature of the wicket, combined with the Burnham spin attack, saw those hopes dashed, as Atif Khan had a field-day, taking 8-46.

Scorecard Burnham vs Basingstoke and North Hants
Burnham
A Javed c Vinn b Chandler 9 S Nadeem b Chandler 6 A Khan b Chandler 79 T Nawaz c Nurse b Harris 17 H Khan c Vinn b Chandler 18 J Khan not out 8 A Ali not out 8 Extras 17 Total (39 overs) 162-5 Fall: 1-13, 2-24, 3-97, 4-134, 5-145
Bowling: C Chandler 11-3-27-4, D Nurse 5-0-28-0, D Koen 11-1-53-0, K Harris 11-1-30-1, A Darmody 1-0-7-0 Basingstoke and North Hants G James c H Khan b A Khan 1 R Droy lbw A Khan 23 A Giles b A Khan 5 D Nurse c&b A Khan 22 G Rouse b A Khan 15 C Froud c Nadeem b A Khan 12 R Vinn c J Khan b A Khan 0 D Koen c H Khan b Butt 4 C Chandler c b Butt 0 A Darmody not out 0 KS Harris c Nadeem b A Khan 3 Extras 13 Total (35.5 overs) 98 Fall:1-3, 2-7, 3-51, 4-68, 5-73, 6-75, 7-92, 8-92, 9-94
Bowling: Z Butt 16-7-29,2, A Khan 17.5-7-46-8, J Khan 1-0-10-0, H Malik 1-1-0-0
Result: Burnham (25 pts) bt Basingstoke and North Hants (2 pts) by 64 runs

Harris said: "We felt we could chase down 160 and were in with a shout, even if we knew it was going to be hard, but we just fell away.

"It was hard to stay out there, with the vagaries of the wicket. The first ball they bowled shot along the ground, the second flew right up, so it was always going to be tricky.

"We didn't know how much turn or bounce there was going to be, so it was hard work.

"We lost some early wickets and then lost others at the wrong time. We are not that good against spin we are lacking against that kind of bowling and that's what they bowled from both ends."

Although Harris felt the side put in a decent bowling display, citing Chandler especially, he pointed to the lack of a cutting-edge spinner that would have found such a playing surface to his liking.

"We don't have that attacking off-spinner. I am more of a defensive spinner and I did my bits and pieces without getting much turn. It would have helped us on Saturday, on that wicket, if we did have that really good off-spinner."

Having won the toss, skipper Chandler elected to put their hosts in and he was celebrating the wicket of openers Shaid Nadeem (6) and Adanan Javed (9) in his third and fifth overs to leave Burnham 24-2.

Just before breaking for lunch, Harris got his solitary wicket of the day when Tassawar Nawaz (17) was caught by Dean Nurse to leave the score 97-3.

Atif Khan was enjoying a fine time with the bat too but, after lunch, the game was then delayed for three hours as the rain fell hard.

However, within a minute of the restart, Chandler bowled Khan for 79, before Richard Vinn, employed as wicketkeeper in Nigel Williamson's absence, caught Burnham captain Habib Khan (18), also off Chandler's bowling.

The home innings ended seven minutes later at 4.48pm, but Basingstoke got off to a bad reply when opener Graham James was out for one after just six minutes at the crease.

Andy Giles (10) fared little better against Khan in his 10 minutes of batting.

Russell Droy top-scored with 23 until Khan trapped him lbw, to leave the Basingstoke tally at 51-3.

When Dean Nurse (22), Grant Rouse (15) and Chris Froud (12) were dismissed to leave the visitors 75-6, the writing was on the wall.

Usual opener Vinn was out for a duck, despite 16 minutes spent facing the spin he dislikes. And the last four batsmen were skittled out for just seven runs between them as Zulfiqar Butt (2-29) and Khan cleaned up.