BASHLEY battled their way to a draw at Havant in a match where both middle orders showed strong resistance.

Neil Thurgood (62) was the mainstay of Bashley’s opening haul but the visitors found life difficult on 117 for five at one stage, with Havant’s Richard Hindley (3-68) in fine form.

However, a solid 66-run partnership between Simon Watkins (48) and Simon Ridley (50) boosted the Bash total with Richard Morris’s men setting a target of 232 for seven.

Premier Division player-of-the-month Kevin Nash (1-31) took the first-ball wicket of opener Robert Gibson before Watkins (3-64) settled well to leave Havant reeling on 61 for four.

But Chris Morgan provided 70 with a run-per-ball effort, while Hindley (26) and Andrew Gorvin (32) put in a shift to prevent Bash leaving Havant Park with the victory.

  • In Division One, New Milton kept pace with the top three with a 67-run victory over second-bottom Andover.

James Park (53*) and Lee Beck (50) teamed up to put 80 together for the third wicket at Fernhill Lane following a solid start from Nick Park (21) and captain Ryan Beck (47).

Chasing 215 for six, Andover opened well enough with Greg Dawson and Matt Knight both scoring 41 as the visitors made their way to 102 for two.

But that was as good as it got for the strugglers with Milton’s skipper (2-11) taking a pair of wickets from less than four overs to add to good work from Nick Elliott (2-19), Nick Gargaro (2-31) and Dan Loader (2-22).