After last season’s climax turning into a (very) damp affair at Padnell Road last season, with a washout on the last day of the season seeing Waterlooville avoid the relegation zone at Petersfield’s expense, it was only fitting that the 2026 season saw a repeat of the same fixture… With the weather much better this time around, this should have been simple enough. That was the case, until a midweek message saying that Padnell Road was once more flooded due to a burst water main. A hasty rearrange saw a new venue of Cams Hill School – the players arrived to a long outfield, a well-used pitch and a distinct lack of facilities… Scene set for a lovely day out!

After a bit of a fielding warm up, the respective captains Charlie Ellis and Tom Horwood wandered out for the toss. Horwood correctly called “Tails” and, despite not being quite sure how the pitch would evolve, elected to field first and let the hosts determine how it would play… Tosswatch – honours even with one win from two at this nascent stage of the season.

Formalities concluded, it was the returning Nathan Barlow (2-19) and Steve Gibson (1-22) that took the new ball, facing up to the Waterlooville openers of Dan Broome (6) and Michael Clements (14). The variable bounce meant that Petersfield were always in with a chance, especially with both openers looking to hit hard straight (with Horwood taking a peppering at mid-off early doors) – both Petersfield openers had their reward in short order, with Barlow bowling Broom and Gibson bowling Clements. After 12 overs, honours relatively even, with Mujtaba Agha (19) and Patrick Sillence (24) generally withstanding pressure and Sillence in particular playing an array of strong drives. Petersfield made a chance in the attack, bringing on the finger-spin of Tom Horwood (4-24) and Ned Merz (0-28), fresh from an impressive 4fer in the 3rd XI on debut last week. Merz struggled to find his length a little, but his prolific in-swing did cause problems for the batters. It was Horwood who began to make inroads at the other end, bowling the dangerous Sillence with an arm ball that drifted past the outside edge. Rich Stephens (3-9) replaced Merz at the end other end and joined his ‘spin twin’ in the action, almost immediately removing Agha plum in front (with trademark enthusiastic finger wagging to secure the decision). Horwood then went on the march through the middle order, removing Charlie Ellis (0) with a sharp caught and bowled, then Will Chrystal (0) joined his captain in the duck club, nicking off to Horwood to be taken by the watchful James Longland behind the stumps. Horwood completed his 4fer in his seventh over, bowling Ravi Patel with one that drifted and turned through the gate. Stephens then carried on the spin rout, removing Mohammad Usama Imran (1), who was well caught over the shoulder by Merz at cover, with Harry Smith (2) becoming Stephens’ third victim, with Smith attempting an odd shot that spooned straight up in the air for Longland to claim a simple grab. With Horwood bowled out, the ball was tossed back to Barlow to finish the job, with the first ball of his second spell yielding the end of the innings, Priyanshu Patel inside edging the ball back on to his own stumps.

Waterlooville all out for 105 in 28.1 overs. Petersfield the happier side at the interval, but on a difficult pitch the target still seemed a long way away… Tea was of the ‘bring your own’ variety and was quietly enjoyed in the warm midafternoon sun.

Players fed, it was time to resume with the chase… Petersfield openers Tom Horwood (19) and Steve Gibson (10) wandered out to see how the pitch would behave against Horwood’s opposite number Charlie Ellis (2-15) and the off-spin of Mujtaba Agha (1-16). Despite some ‘interesting’ bounce off a length, the Petersfield pair weathered the early storm and were progressing ahead of the required rate, looking as comfortable as batters could on that surface. However, with the score having ticked up to 33 without loss, disaster struck with both openers being dismissed in short succession… First, Horwood had one stop in the pitch and ended up nudging a full delivery from Will Chrystal (2-29) to mid-off, where Charlie Ellis (despite juggling the ball) got revenge for his earlier dismissal. Gibson fell in the following over, with a Dan Broome (3-13) delivery jagging back sharply and lifting slightly, taking his inside edge to be caught behind by Mohammad Usama Imran. After the rare event of five penalty runs for the ball striking the helmet behind the Wicket Keeper, Richard Knight (0) and Derek Kelly (4) looked to force the issue a little to get things moving towards the target. First, Knight was caught at mid-on off the bowling of Broome attempting to go over the top. James Longland (19) and Kelly looked to rebuild with Petersfield now 44-3, with Longland playing impressive drives to full length balls, but Kelly was then clean bowled by Broome shortly later, once again trying to hit down the ground. Longland and debutant Ned Merz (12) managed to move the score along to 72, with Longland playing the aggressor and Merz the supporting role, surviving alongside his more experience partner, before Longland nicked behind off the seaming bowling of Ellis who had returned from the opposite end. This brought the experienced Rich Stephens (0) to the crease, but his efforts were regrettably short lived with him being bowled by Ellis without troubling the scorers to be the opposition captain’s second victim.

With the score now at 72-6, things were looking more and more bleak… Youngster Olly Heapey (10) joined his fellow youngster Merz at the crease, and looked to take the attack to the Waterlooville bowlers, hitting two firm boundaries amongst a series of swings and misses. Heapy did, regrettably, fall to Chrystal to complete his 3fer, being acrobatically caught (arguably one for the cameras!) by Broome at short third man. Merz fell shortly after, caught off the spin of Kian Davies (1-6), leaving Nathan Barlow (3) and Alex Morrison (5) the challenge of scoring the last 11 runs required with just two wickets in hand. Barlow didn’t last too long, being stumped off the returning Agha, but with Morrison having hit a timely boundary through backward square, a thriller was set up with the score at 103-9 – three runs to win and one wicket in hand, with Richard Lack (0*) wandering out to join Morrison in an attempt to save the day. Then, the pivotal moment - Morrison attempted to take a quick single to mid-off, with a direct hit required to prevent the crucial run… Sadly for the visitors, Priyanshu Patel cleanly picked up and threw hard at the stumps, hitting half way middle with Morrison a couple of yards short (those long legs not quite long enough to get home), with Lack safely home yet still stranded at the other end. “Scenes” would be the apt word to describe the Waterlooville celebrations out in the middle, as Petersfield heads hang in despair… Waterlooville win by 2 runs.

So the Battle of UnderWaterlooville was lost… Sadly, a bit of poor shot selection and few too many missed opportunities to take singles on a tough wicket to score freely ultimately costing Petersfield what really should have been a hard earned win. Close defeats hurt, but onwards and upwards… The Second XI return to the Heath next week, with the prospect of a nice pitch, good outfield, actual facilities and Stephens Tea to look forward to. Oh, and the visit of St Cross Symondians, of course…