HOOK and Newnham Basics captain Ben Thane claimed a five-wicket haul to help his side to victory in the Southern League division two north Hampshire derby against Hartley Wintney.

The medium pacer claimed 5-11 in just three overs as Hartley collapsed from 136-4 to 139-9 in reply to Hook’s all-out total of 239, the visitors eventually being dismissed for 159 to lose by 80 runs.

Hartley had been in contention at the change of innings after bowling well on a good batting pitch.

No Hook batsman was able to make a big score but Ross Hunter (49), Nick Willcock (46), Richard Willcock (44) and Josh Buckingham (36) all chipped in to get them past 200, while spinner Mark Teale took 4-30 for the |visitors.

The Hartley reply began badly, with Shane Brewer removing both of their openers to leave them 21-2.

Their cause was not helped when top-scorer Scott Baldwin (36) was run out but they looked to be recovering when skipper Richard Norris (32) and Matt Digweed (17) put on 47 for the fifth wicket.

However, Digweed then became the first of Thane’s victims, with Norris, Roy Cockram, Jack Cockram and Chris Jolley also falling to the Hook skipper as the visitors slumped to 139-9.

The final pair added 20 more runs but Hook eventually took the wicket they needed to secure revenge for their defeat at Hartley earlier in the season.

Thane said: “It was a superb effort because I did not think that 240 was enough. It was a good wicket and while a few people got runs, nobody got a big score.

“I only put myself on to bowl because I wanted to save Anik Divecha for later in the innings but I ended up taking the game away from them with five wickets. I just bowled straight and they kept missing.”

Norris was left to reflect on another game where Hartley were let down by their batting.

“We bowled really well and I thought they were about 50 runs short but we just did not back it up with the bat,” he said.

“Batting has been our problem all season. There was a tumble of wickets and we went from being in pretty good shape to losing.”

The result means that Hook will come second in the league no matter what happens in the final two weeks of the season, while Hartley could yet finish as high as third but are also not yet safe from the drop.

They host Hambledon on Saturday, while Hook travel to Paultons, possibly without Brewer (ankle) and Glen Williams (hamstring).