Andover First XI, proudly sponsored by Nordlock, finished their season with defeat against Romsey in the Southern Premier Cricket League Division one.

Andover won the toss and chose to bat first over at the Rapids and they started well against some disciplined home bowlers. Glyn Treagus (26)  and Will Berrill (15) took Andover to 40 without much alarm until Treagus, who may have been playing his final game before retirement, was harshly adjudged LBW.

Treagus has had an illustrious playing career since turning professional with Hampshire in the late 1990’s and has amassed over 3,500 runs for Andover and several thousand more in a run-laden Southern Premier league career.

This started a collapse for Andover as Romsey introduced Hampshire T20 star Chris Wood (5-20) into the attack. Andover lost five wickets for 19 runs and were 62-6. The only man standing firm was Nathan Birks (62*) whilst at the other end batters were falling at an alarming speed. Birks seemed to be batting on a different wicket and he hit it to all parts. Birks managed small partnerships but no one could stay with him and Andover slipped to 90-8. Johnny Nyumbu (17) joined Birks and this pair took Andover past 100. Nyumbu fell on 147 and Mike Adams took Andover past 150 but Andover were subsequently bowled out for 154. Birks were left stranded unbeaten after being the only batsman to settle on a pitch where their seemed to be little demons.

Andover knew that a few early wickets could see them with a chance of winning and Romsey lost their first wicket with four runs on the board after a suicidal run was taken to Matt Hooper, who completed the run-out with the help of Alex Corbett behind the stumps.

Romsey then progressed to 30 before Michael Adams (20-1) had the other Romsey opener LBW. Four runs later Hooper (40-1) son one thought he gate and Romsey were 34-3 and Andover had a chance. However, this brought Wood to the crease and he proceeded to smash 57 from just 35 balls.

Andover threw everything they had at the Hampshire man but he timed the ball well hitting four sixes and six fours, all around the ground. This took the sting out of Andover’s attack but the town side continued to battle and Wood fell with the Romsey score on 121-4. Andover managed to take two more wickets before Romsey past the Andover total in a disappointing defeat in the battle of the Test Valley teams.

This defeat confirmed Andover’s relegation from division one, and with Calmore picking up more points in their defeat, confined Andover to bottom of the table by a fraction of a point. Andover will be disappointed with their campaign but they will look to rebuild and bounce straight back up to division one as soon as possible.