It was a warm and sunny but slightly windy day when a much changed Boxgrove side travelled to play their local rivals Lavant for a Saturday game in early June.

In terms of team news change was the order of the day as Boxgrove found themselves unable to call upon the likes of Thorpe, Rew Reed, Gottesman, Vinnicombe or Mant. In came Ninian Williams and Pete Symonds for their first game of the season whilst there were debuts for Ollie Haggar and James Crane and Mark Holl returned from a dislocated finger to take the captaincy.

Boxgrove won the toss and Holl had no hesitation in asking Lavant to bat. It was obvious straight from the start that the pitch was lively and it didn't take Ninja Williams long to take advantage. Bowling quickly he tempted Lavant skipper Wignall into an ill advised hook and he was hit on the helmet and the ball then rearranged the stumps leaving the hosts 3 for 1.

Elphick came to the wicket and looked a good player creaming a series of fours to the boundary. At the other end P. Burford was looking far from comfortable and it wasn't a surprise when McGeough had him caught superbly at gully by Langton for 2. Elphick and Will Banks then began to look like they could restore Lavant's fortunes but they were then removed in quick succession.

At 33 for 2, Williams produced an absolute beauty to clean bowl Elphick for 21. At the other end the in form Matt Langton had replaced the tiring McGeough and soon had his bunny Will Banks (8) bowled by a classic swinging delivery. Dale followed next ball as the impressive Langton completely bamboozled him. The hat-trick was almost completed but Rider kept the ball out though only just. That was a temporary reprieve however as Dale was quickly bowled by Williams for 0.

The score was now 38 for 6 and as much as the bowling was impressive it was more than matched by the excellent fielding especially from the debutants Haggar and Crane whose efforts were truly inspirational and set the tone.

Lavant threatened a mini revival as they moved to 58 for 6 and that led Holl to replace the tiring Williams with Chamberlain. His decision was instantly rewarded as Chamberlain struck in his first over trapping R. Burford LBW for 7. Dave Banks followed the very next ball caught and bowled by Langton for 10. Hall then went for a duck bowled by the irrepressible Langton and the score was 59 for 9. Portsmouth smacked a few late runs but when he was bowled for 11 Lavant were all out for 70. Inevitably the excellent Langton took the final wicket to add yet another 5 wicket haul to his career tally.

Langton ended with 5 for 16 off 5.2 overs whilst the marauding Williams took 3 for 17 off 9 overs. Chamberlain meanwhile took 1 for 8 and McGeough 1 for 18 in an impressive display by the team.

A score of 70 wasn't anywhere near what Lavant would have hoped for but it was still an interesting target on an indifferent pitch. Barrett and Chamberlain however calmed nerves moving the score on to 19 without loss. Barrett in particular looked in form as he hit a three and two fours in quick succession off the wayward Will Banks. He was however undone by the pitch as one kept low to have him LBW to Dave Banks for 11. Chamberlain and Symonds then rolled back the years in taking the score to 53 before the latter was LBW to Hall for 10.

Chamberlain was looking in imperious form and he was joined at the wicket by new boy James "Power Puff" Crane who saw out an over as tea was taken with 15 required to win. Upon the resumption Crane scored his first runs for the club before he was caught and bowled by Banks for 2 leaving Boxgrove 58 for 3. Any thoughts of a collapse was soon banished however as Chamberlain (37 not out) and Williams (3 not out) took Boxgrove over the line for an impressive 7 wicket win in just 16 overs.