Promoted Old Tauntonians & Romsey open their Southern Premier League Division 1 challenge against strongly fancied Portsmouth on Southsea seafront on Saturday (12.30pm), buoyed by an encouraging debut performance in the ECB national club championship.
They lost by 11 runs to Lansdown, but running a top-flight West of England Premier Division outfit close was a real positive for Rob Newman, who is skippering OTs for the first time this season.
OTs made 201-9 after Lansdown posted 212-3 off 40 overs. Lansdown is the Bath club where Sir Vivian Richards played before joining Somerset.
OTs lost Charlie King early, but Tom Cowley (44), Hampshire's Chris Wood (20) and Harry Tulk (27) pushed the score along, as did Joe Vaughan (24) while wickets fell.
At 162-8, OTs appeared out of it but Lewis Allen crashed four big on-side sixes and a boundary to lift the final score to 201-9.
Graham Noble, signed from Langley Manor, will make his OTR debut against Portsmouth. OTs line up is: King, Noble, Wood, Tulk, Newman, Vaughan, Ponting, Peruzi, George, Bampton, Bethal.
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