Will power sees Hook to victory (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Will power sees Hook to victory

8:00am Wednesday 28th December 2011 in Cricket

HOOK and Newnham Basics retained their Hampshire indoor six-a-side title thanks to a thrilling one-run win over Havant in the final game of the championship.

The King George V Playing Fields-based club were the defending champions after winning the 2010 event and their success means they go through to play the Isle of Wight champions in the first round of the ECB indoor championships in February.

The Hampshire finals saw Hook take on teams from Team Solent University and Havant in a round-robin event held at The Rose Bowl.

Their first game saw them take on Team Solent, who made 122-2 batting first. Hook made an uncertain start, losing two early wickets, but recovered well, with Ben Allnutt (27 not out) and Nick Willcock (26 not out) piling on the runs in mid-innings.

They eventually beat the students by four wickets, with just one over of the match remaining, setting up a winner-takes-all finale against Havant.

Matt Love made 20 but Hook were pegged back to 109-4 off 11 overs. However, Allnutt (29 not out) and Shane Brewer (23) plundered 31 runs from a final over that saw ten balls bowled, helping their side to 138-5.

Havant scored at ten runs an over and looked in a good position at 80-1 off eight overs – but Glen Williams then slowed them down by bowling a maiden over.

Still the situation seemed dire for Hook as Havant hit back to require just four runs from the last three balls of Williams’ final over. However, they could only manage one and closed on 137-4, giving Hook a one-run victory.