B.A.T. beat the weather to thrash South Wilts

BAT Sports stole a march on their ECB Southern Electric Premier League rivals by sides-stepping the bad weather and thumping South Wilts by eight wickets at Lower Bemerton.

Teenage left-hander Damian Shirazi hit an unbeaten 66 as BAT cruised home after South Wilts had collapsed from a comfortable 81-1 to 144-8 off a weather-cut 36 overs.

It was the only Premier Division 1 match to survive the recent heavy rain, which created waterlogged pitches at Andover, Bashley (Rydal), Calmore Sports and Liphook & Ripsley.

The 21 points BAT collected from a run cruise in the early evening sunshine made no difference to their fourth place in the table. But it closed the gap on Andover, Havant and Bournemouth, who lie in the top three places.

Yet such an emphatic BAT victory hardly appeared likely after Paul Draper and flu-stricken Russell Rowe had given South Wilts such a promising start. The pair brushed aside the damp batting conditions, picking gaps in the field nicely as South Wilts nipped along at four runs an over.

Draper was in an uncharacteristically aggressive mood, taking the initiative in a 69-run opening partnership which evergreen left-arm spinner Terry Rawlins ended by luring Rowe out of his ground to give stand-in Australian wicketkeeper Michael Watson an easy stumping.

Rowe's departure at the mid-innings point clearly unsettled the Salisbury club, whose middle-order vulnerability was cruelly exposed by Rawlins and a more confident Kirk Stewart.

"Kirk suffered from a certain lack of confidence in the early games, but he took fourwickets at Portsmouth last week and anotherthree at South Wilts and is now enjoying his cricket again," said BAT skipper Dave Banks.

Batsmen came and went with monotonous regularity as South Wilts staggered from 81-1 to 116-7 in the course of 11 nightmare overs.

Stewart, bowling much straighter than of late and exploiting a damp patch just short of a length, clipped Simon Woodhouse's off-stump.

It triggered a mass collapse, South Wilts' middle-order folding like the proverbial deck of cards.

Draper picked out Richard Kenway at backward gully then, 11 runs on, Jon Nash ran himself out. Jamie Glasson, eager to press on with the scoring, toe-ended an intended hook back to Stewart and, in the same 30th over, former skipper Rob Wade miscued an off-drive to extra-cover.

Jo Cranch hooked Stewart for six, but perished soon after - Watson bagging a second stumping off Rawlins, who picked up 3-38 from a typically tidy 12-over spell.

South Wilts had sunk to 127-8 - mainly through some poor cricket - but reached an eventual 144-8, with young left-hander John Chandler striking a crisp 15 not out and Shaun Adam hitting 12, including one glorious straight six.

With batting conditions easing under the emerging sunshine, South Wilts' were going to struggle to defend 144-8 - a good 30 runs short of a desirable score. And so it proved, with BAT easing home in near ideal conditions with four overs in hand.

With any luck, South African Shaun Adam might have achieved an early breakthrough or two - had his team-mates not fluffed the chances that came their way.

The left-arm Adam, who played eight times for Natal before injuring his back two seasons ago, bowled some stunning deliveries which, somehow, failed to find the edge of a BAT willow.

Coming up the Bemerton slope, he frequently turned Damian Shirazi and Richard Kenway square with balls that cut off the seam.

But Adam bowled without any luck at all and, as the opening partnership grew, so the South Wilts fielding became ragged. Kenway (27), who had ridden his luck, was eventually caught by Wade off Rob Down - but, by then, BAT were well into their stride at 87-1.

Shirazi played with increasing confidence, hitting eight boundaries in what proved a match-winning knock.

He added 54 in a second-wicket stand with Chris Thomason (27), which ended just three runs from home when the former Lymington all-rounder holed out in the deep to Jamie Glasson.

"In the end we didn't put up much of a fight," confessed South Wilts vice-captain Paul Draper. "But had we picked up one or two of those early missed chances, we'd have given BAT a far tougher fight.

"Shaun (Adam) bowled really well, forcing the batsmen to constantly play and miss, but it really wasn't his day."