Lymington fought a successful rearguard action against 50 overs of Havant spin to force a draw – but the result cost them the Southern Premier League leadership at the season’s midway point.

They held on at 154 for seven in response to Havant’s challenging 217, having been 82 for one at one stage.

Zimbabwean left-hander Malcolm Lake (28), playing his last game for six weeks, gave the Lymington innings a typically forceful start with a big six over mid-wicket and four boundaries.

But, with Lymington 38-0 in the fifth over, Lake departed to an outstanding catch in the deep by Steve Matthews.

Dom Hand, with a patient 44, and Richard Lock (28) eased Lymington to 82, but forcing the pace against Havant’s four-pronged spin attack was always difficult.

Any realistic prospect Lymington had of chasing down the Havant total effectively disappeared once Brad Taylor (3-36) trapped his Hampshire 2nd XI team-mate Calvin Dickinson leg before.

Havant rotated their bowlers, but Lymington held out fairly comfortably at 154-7 off 58 overs.

Earlier, Lake (5-54) had Havant rocking at 14 for three, leaving Chris Stone (47) and Richard Hindley (46) to steady the ship.

Jez Bulled (38) and Andy Gorvin (33) steered Havant to 217, with perennially excellent Lymo seamer Matt Metcalfe finishing with three for 50.

New Milton, meanwhile, lost their last eight wickets for just 33 runs to go down to a 72-run defeat against Andover.

Chasing a gettable-looking 174, for what would have been a priceless victory against the Premier Division's bottom team, New Milton suffered an early blow when Chamika Karunaratne (3-33) had Kiwi opener Dave Wakefield caught behind for a duck.

Tom Arnold (26) and Ollie Shrubsole (27) appeared to have put the Green and Golds back on track, but the latter's removal by Matt Hooper (2-16) opened the door for Andover leg spinner Danny Foy (5-24) to tear through the hosts' batting.

Sri Lankan all-rounder Karunaratne had preceded his bowling feats by contributing a valuable 50 with the bat, while opener Storm Green made a painstaking 62 from 142 balls before being seventh man out in the visitors' total of 173.

Dan Loader was the best of the New Milton bowlers, with figures of four for 26 from 10 overs.