SOUTH WILTS were forced to put their ECB Southern Electric Premier League championship celebrations on hold after Havant gate crashed the champagne party by inflicting a five-wicket defeat on the leaders at Lower Bemerton.

The Salisbury club collected six of the 28 points they needed to be assured of the title and must now beat Portsmouth at St Helen's on Saturday to clinch their first league trophy in 15 years.

But, if defending champions BAT Sports can bounce back from a shock defeat at Liphook & Ripsley and beat Havant at Southern Gardens, the silverware will find its way to Wiltshire anyway.

"We never really got started," admitted disappointed South Wilts captain Rob Wade, who saw his top order batting fail for the third successive week.

"The guys were very tense and it showed in our batting performance."

But, unlike in the recent wins over Liphook & Ripsley and Old Tauntonians & Romsey, the efforts of the South Wilts lower order didn't bring the victory points.

Instead, South Wilts' 205-8 was overhauled with relative comfort - durable Havant achieving their target with three overs and more to spare.

It was a struggle for the champions designate directly openers Russell Rowe and Jason Laney were dismissed in the initial half-hour.

Wiltshire captain Rowe was yorked by Richard Pineo - Havant's nine-wicket hero against Liphook the previous week - and Laney bowled by James Ingram, who faces likely disciplinary action for his untimely gestures at the former Hampshre batsman.

Already finding it difficult to penetrate the bowling, South Wilts lost Jamie Glasson to a spectacular low-down catch by Andy Perry at 51-3, and Rob Wade (38), trapped leg before (at 81-4) by off-spinning namesake Chris Wade, who was unfortunate not to earn more tangible rewards than his 1-29 from 10 overs.

Perry cannily rotated an assortment of seam and spin - left-arm slowman Phil Loat, the seventh Havant bowler to see action, removing Jon Chandler (17) and then prising Penang-bound Tim Lamb (19) out of his ground to have South Wilts rocking at 112-6.

Young Eddie Abel (20) began the lower-order fightback, which bore fruit through Alan Kruger (33) and teenager James Hayward, who compounded Ingram's misery by taking 16 runs off his final over.

Hayward, involved in the run-out mix-up with cost Kruger his wicket, hit a quick-fire 25 as South Wilts recovered well to reach 205-8.

Havant were concerned that an already trying surface would prove harder to bat on as the game progressed. How wrong they were.

Baked by the afternoon sun, it played easier, though at no stage was it a batsman's paradise.

Havant made a gutsy start, with Tom Cledwyn and Will Prozesky putting on 45 in ten overs, the partnership ending when Hampshire left-armer James Tomlinson broke through.

In typical style, Prozesky took the attack to South Wilts, punishing anything remotely loose and, with Simon Barnard (19) alongside, taking Havant to 92-2.

Havant got some handy 'big scoring' overs in to ease any pressure, not more so than when Prozesky thumped 22 off Hayward's initial over of left-arm spin.

But, at 65 and with a big score threatening, the South African went for one shot too many against Abel and was caught at backward gully.

At 121-3, South Wilts were back in with a shout, but they needed to get Andy Perry (44) and Paul Gover early.

It took them until 166 (and the 39th over) before they removed the fourth-wicket pair in consecutive balls, but Simon James and Pineo, who reach finished with 20 not out, experienced few difficulties in scoring the 40 runs Havant required.

The defeat ended South Wilts' impressive 11-match unbeaten run - ten of which they won - and they are without Hampshire's James Tomlinson and departing wicketkeeper Tim Lamb next Saturday.