Cille van der Merwe hit a career-best 153 not out and featured in a double-century opening partnership as Andover remained firmly in contention near the Division 2 summit with a thumping 189-run victory at Hungerford.

His personal best tally included two sixes and 20 fours, and was the highest ever score by an Andover batsman in Premier League cricket.

Van der Merwe, pictured below, who later took two stumpings and a catch, remained on the field for the entire match.

He shared a 232-run start with Mark Miller, who smacked a six and 19 fours in a blistering 124.

Andover skipper Roger Miller spent two hours padded up watching the run spree before being stumped for a duck!

Andover's 346-3 was way beyond Hungerford's remit and the Berkshire side were dismissed for 157 (Danny Williams 37), with Richard Taylor (4-38) and Chris Hadfield (4-50) doing the damage.

Despite being without five first choice players, Trojans beat fellow promotion aspirants Lymington by 61 runs at the Sports Ground.

Trojans took control when Jack Sedden (77) and Simon Williams (68) produced a century start for the Stoneham club, who went on to post 262-7 (Nigel le Bas 39).

A top-order batting collapse, prompted by lanky Trojans pace bowler Jamie Donaldson (5-43), had Lymington reeling at 4-3 and in later strife at 102-6.

Zimbabwe's Keith Dabengwa (52) and Christian Pain, with a forceful 54 later in the innings, improved their prospects, but Lymington, at 201-9, were never in a challenging position.

Old Tauntonians & Romsey gave their survival prospects a boost with comfortable six-wicket win over Purbrook.

Ed Lowe's new ball spell had the visitors reeling at 35-5 the former Portsmouth Grammar School seamer finished with 4-37 from which they never really recovered.

Purbrook dropped to 91-8 before a late order rally lifted their final total to 173-9 (Bashir 48).

Left-handers Charles Forward (66) and Stuart Tulk (45) pointed OTs towards their victory target.

Havant II posted a healthy 228-8 (Mike Edwards 62) before dismissing Rowledge for 182 (David Lloyd 40), with left-arm spinner Phil Loat taking 4-28.