BEN Thane hit his maiden century for Basingstoke and North Hants won at Alton by five wickets.

The Bountymen were set the target of 241 to win and reached it thanks to a superb unbeaten 121 from Thane.

The game started with the home side winning the toss and electing to bat, but they were soon in trouble as Marco Marais and Alex Hammond were both dismissed by Martyn James (2-25) for golden ducks.

From here Alton dug in and Michael Heffernan (56) and Daniel Harris (53) put on 98 for the third wicket, before Mitch Stokes (2-36) bowled Harris.

Heffernan was then dismissed by Ashley Neal (2-41) with the score on 140, but from then the Alton innings was under pinned by a fine unbeaten 91 from Scott Myers.

This helped them to a score of 240-8, as Thane (2-44) took late wickets.

The Basingstoke reply was built around Thane’s super knock and he put on 55 with Chris Froud (6) for the first wicket and then 44 with Dan Belcher (21).

The partnerships continued to flow with Thane well supported by Stokes (31) and then along with David Griffiths (26) they finished the game off with an unbroken stand of 57, as the Bountymen won by five wickets.

Thane carried his bat and his 121, which saw him hit 13 fours in his 186-ball stay at the centre.

Next up for Basingstoke is a trip to Southern League Premier Division league leaders South Wilts on Saturday.