MAX Smith collected his Southern Electric Cricketer of the Month award for June - and then celebrated with a five-wicket haul which almost earned Old Tauntonians & Romsey their first Premier League win of the season.

His spell of 5-49 in 16 overs had Liphook & Ripsley hanging on with their last pair at the crease at 140-9 after OTs had posted a tidy 195-9 off a rain-cut 58 overs.

Despite collecting 14 points from a 'winning draw', OTs remain bottom of the table, although Liphook - who have also yet to win this season - are now only two points ahead of them.

Paul Longland (23) and Jodey Kirkham-Brown (16) provided OTs with a sound start before both openers were trapped by Tim Wheatley, who finished with a creditable 4-47 on the damp Romsey surface.

OTs' batting hero was Jeremy Ord who, unable to bowl through an hamstring injury picked up in last week's SPL Twenty20 victory over Hampshire, came in at three and hit his best Premier League score.

Ord, eighth out for a splendid 86, had Scott Shirley (28) in support as he took Old Tauntonians to 128-2.

But, as wickets fell in pairs at the opposite end - two in the mid-140s and two more in the 160s - the Basingstoke schoolteacher had to build the score largely on his own.

Nick De Stefano hit 15 before being one of the last two OTs wickets to fall to run outs.

When Shirley, who hails from New Zealand, bagged two Liphook wickets in his opening spell, OTs must have felt their luck was in.

But South African Dom Ridley held up their progress with a gallant 86 which largely underpinned their reply.

Smith, bowling his nagging seamers, continued to chip away at the other end, taking five successive wickets, including the prize scalp of Ridley at 128-7.

But OTs found themselves frustrated by the inroads created by the rain and only managed to remove nine Liphook batsmen as the visitors hung on well short at 140-9.

Liphook & Ripsley teenager all-rounder Chris Wright missed the game after being called into the Middlesex Twenty20 Cup squad.

Wright, 19, is a former Hampshire YCs player.