WINNING again is all that is on the mind of Basingstoke and North Hants skipper Chris Froud as his side look to keep the pressure up on the top two in Southern League Division One.

New Milton still head the table from Hook and Newnham Basics, but the Bountymen are only 16 points behind the leaders and four behind their local rivals, so they will be ready to pounce should the top two slip up.

Basingstoke still have to play both of the top two again, with a trip to Hook a week on Saturday and then a home game against New Milton on August 15.

However, before the Bountymen can focus on these games, they have a trip to north Hampshire rivals Andover on Saturday.

When these teams met earlier in the season at May’s Bounty, Basingstoke won by 95 runs.

Batting first, the Bountymen made 242-8 thanks to excellent knocks from Froud (71) and Martyn James (59).

Andover were then bowled out for 147. Matt Hooper was their top scorer with 54 and James completed a great day with bat and ball by taking 5-32.

Andover did not have a game last week as their trip to Hook was cancelled due to water getting under the covers, while Basingstoke had a delayed start before they beat visiting Rowledge by five wickets.

Andover are fifth in the table at the moment and have won their last two games, but they have yet to beat any of the top three sides.

However, in David Taylor they have a real match winner. He is the leading run scorer in the division and is sure to want to put the record straight having been bowled for a first ball duck by James in the last game between these sides.

Basingstoke will re-shuffle their line-up ahead of the clash as seam bowler Dan King and middle order batsman Lee Nurse are unavailable.

So back into the team come bowler Chris Chandler and batsman Craig Williamson, who scored 94 in his last game for the team in their victory at Totton.

Basingstoke will be searching for their third win on the trot and also their third league double of the season.

Skipper Chris Froud missed the trip to Andover last season and said: “I don’t think I have played at Andover since I was teenager, so I am looking forward to going there.

“We did well against them at our place and the confidence is good in the camp at the moment.

“We have to keep winning and hope New Milton slip up somewhere, but at the moment that does not seem to be happening.

“We know Andover have some very dangerous players and they have proved this during the campaign.

“We have to make sure we go there and play as well as we can, as against Rowledge we were not at our best in the field.”