On another dismal rain-affected Saturday afternoon Leckford won the toss and put Hambledon in, a tactical decision by skipper Miles Bulpitt bearing in mind the likelihood of rain.

Veteran Stuart Hicks (7-2-11-2) got Leckford off to a flying start, taking the wickets of opener James Scutt and skipper Chris Lagana for ducks in the fourth over.

Two other Leckford bowlers, Mark Tomlinson (4-0-20-2) and Luke Richardson (4-0-19-2), were also to take two wickets - in the 28th and 36th overs.

Two more Hambledon players bagged ducks - Daniel Hewitt and Mackie Hobson - with Indi Chakrabarti (45) and John Burdekin (42no) the only players to make much impression.

With excellent support from Paul Bradbury (11-3-23-2), Miles Bulpitt (10-2-28-1), Nigel Marriott (6-1-22-0) and Carl Whatley (5-0-20-1), Leckford managed to keep Hambledon's score down to a modest 151, taking the final wicket in the 47th over.

Leckford started their innings with an asking rate of just 3.02 to aim for, confident that they could achieve the 152 target in the allotted time.

The first wicket to fall, that of Martyn Isherwood, was rather bizarre. Isherwood was hit in the face by the ball, and recovered to call for his helmet only to find that the umpires had conferred and decided he was out hit wicket because his hat had come off and removed a bail when he was hit!

Four early wickets fell in the first 8 overs, but then rain stopped play for just over 20 minutes.

With a revised target of 133 in 44 overs, Leckford resumed their innings, but fell apart, finishing on 58 all out in 18.5 overs.

Hambledon, who were in fine voice throughout, used just two bowlers, Chris Lagana (9.5-3-27-3) and Mackie Hobson (9-2-21-7).

Mackie is heading off on his travels soon, and while wishing him a good trip, Leckford are a little disappointed he hadn't left earlier!