A five-wicket haul by Nic Gargaro and a patient knock from Mark House eased New Milton to a five-wicket ECB Royal London national club championship first round win over Totton & Eling at Southern Gardens.
Gargaro took 5-19 as Totton, having reached 91-4 on the strength of James Taylor’s 42, collapsed to 119 all out, losing their last six wickets for 26 runs.
New Milton wobbled at 32-4, but opener House kept his cool, hitting an unbeaten 43 which, aided by some lusty blows from Dan Loader (33), saw the visitors home with plenty of time to spare.
Parley went through to the second round without having to bowl a ball in anger.
Their scheduled meeting with Lymington was twice called off due to waterlogged grounds and, when the ECB tossed a coin at Lord’s, Parley called correctly to send the Premier League side out.
Havant overcame Sussex League side Billingshurst by 35 runs, but such a comfortable margin of victory did not appear likely at one stage of their first round tie.
Like Billingshurst later in the day, they encountered problems against the new ball and were in some difficulty at 82-6 (Peter Hopson 38) before the lower order retrieved a tricky situation.
Skipper Stuart Ransley (42), teenager Harry Hovey (25) and Jez Bulled (24) more than doubled the Havant score and an eventual 191 all out proved beyond reach of the visitors.
The Billingshurst reply mirrored that of Havant – their response reaching 88-6, with Hampshire Academy prospect Andy Gorvin (2-15) and Ransley (2-42) making inroads.
Andy Barr’s 49 not out took Billingshurst to 156 as Ben Walker (3-15) got among the lower order.
Havant’s win has set up a tasty second round derby with Portsmouth, who pulled off a creditable four-wicket win at Normandy.
The Hogs Back based club posted 219-5, but Portsmouth got in with four balls of the final over to spare.
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