National Village Knock-out Regional Final.

Paultons (173-6) beat Sparsholt (169-7).

Following yet another wet week, both sides contrived to make a decent contest on a rain sodden Norman Edwards Ground, Sparsholt, in the regional final of the National Village Knockout Competition. Paultons won the toss and inserted Sparsholt in a 35 over match.

Sparsholt struggled from the outset, losing both openers inside six overs as Dunn (2-16) and Richman bowled a tight line, making early batting difficult on a pitch which was still under water four hours earlier.

Dave Gough (19) and in-form skipper Andy Heyes (43) steadied things, before Heyes and Tim Simmonite (26) put together the best partnership of the innings. Carl Nichols weighed in with 26 at the end as Sparsholt reached 169 for 7. Mitchell dismissed all three to finish with 3 for 37.

Both sides were missing key players, but Sparsholt particularly missed Viljoen, who is ineligible, and leading wicket taker Mark Zawadski who had to work. Batting was not much easier as Paultons started their reply with veteran John Harris and Lamb opening the innings, Vokes and Ball bowling tidily.

The match looked poised with Paultons at 45 for 3 with 20 overs left, but Sparsholt's bowlers were erratic, with no one able to help Mark Stone (3-20) exert any continuous pressure on the Paultons middle order.

Batting appeared to get a little easier towards the end of the Paultons innings as Collins and O'Brien scored 29 and 36 respectively. Tony Richman made sure that their work was not wasted as he finished unbeaten on 40 as Paultons reached their target with three overs to spare.