ROWLEDGE suffered a painful defeat at the hands of third-placed St Cross 2nd XI. The result reduced Rowledge’s lead over the Winchester side to just five points and sets up a promotion-deciding final weekend in the SPL Division Two.

Rowledge host relegated Trojans this Saturday, while St Cross entertain Paultons.

Stand-in skipper Jake Wish elected to bat, showing faith in his batsmen on a green-tinged surface.

St Cross applied pressure from the start, bowling in excellent areas and making scoring very difficult for the batsmen. Matt Haworth, in particular, was getting significant movement, both off the surface and through the air, and frequently bowled unplayable deliveries.

He removed three of the top four cheaply, including the in-form Ricky Yates, and at 51-4 the home side had it all to do.

Number 1 Chris Yates Jnr continued to display his remarkable temperament and ability to occupy the crease in testing conditions, steadily accumulating runs as other batsmen came and went, all struggling against accurate bowling and disciplined fielding.

Yates eventually fell, bowled by veteran Matt Perry-Lewis (3-27) for 49, leaving Rowledge 106-7 from 39 overs.

Ollie Baker and Steve Martin knuckled down to the task and eked out a further 26 runs as Rowledge laboured to 137-9 in their 50 overs.

Wish and Richard Forbes kept things very tight in return and after 10 overs, six of them maidens, St Cross had crawled to 9-1, the umpire remaining unmoved when Rowledge thought that opener Paul Hawkins had been caught behind off Wish.

Hawkins and number 3 Dan Young continued to ride their luck, surviving many confident appeals for lbw as Rowledge strove to make inroads.

Eventually, after 22 overs, the introduction of slow left-armer George Keeley brought immediate success, with Young bowled for 17. Keeley (3-23) and Ollie Baker continued to wheel away and at 86-5, Rowledge were still in the game.

But the defiant Hawkins (67 not out) found a staunch partner in Robert Hadfield and their unbroken partnership of 55 saw St Cross to a five-wicket victory in the 41st over.

Rowledge now face a tough test of their mettle if they are to secure promotion straight back to Division?One.