Overseas pair star in Portsmouth and Hambledon Southern Premier League T20 Cup wins – but Portsmouth & Southsea are hammered

The Sri Lankan all-rounder had flopped with the bat in making his debut the previous day in a Division 1 win against Alton.

But he put that behind him with an unbeaten 81 in a superb partnership with James Christian as Portsmouth claimed a 36-run victory at St Helens.

Jalill and Christian (77 not out) put on an unbroken 174 for the second wicket as Portsmouth closed on 180-1 - skipper Ben Duggan (5) having been dismissed by Archie Reynolds after just three balls.

Jalill cracked seven fours and four sixes in his 59-ball innings, while Christian faced one ball fewer and struck 11 boundaries.

Josh McCoy conceded 45 runs off his four overs, while Sam Hillman conceded 22 off the 12 balls he sent down.

Ville’s reply began badly with Gabriel Broadhurst (9) first to go. And they were 17-2 when skipper Reynolds (5) was dismissed by his former Rowlands Avenue colleague Ashan Silva. He was caught by Billy Eales, promoted to the 1sts after his maiden century for the 2nds in a Hampshire League game the previous day.

McCoy (68) and Kiwi Josh McGregor (41) hauled Ville back into the tie, but time was against them and they finished on 144-5.

Ville will now enter the SPL T20 Plate tournament, which they won at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl last year.

Portsmouth & Southsea will also contest the Plate after a 10-wicket thrashing by National Village KO Cup holders Calmore Sports.

Restricted to 109-8 at Loperwood Park, the visitors’ bowling was taken apart by cup specialist Ben Johns.

The opener thrashed an unbeaten 81 off just 40 balls - including 16 fours and a six - as Calmore cantered to victory after just 9.3 overs.

P & S captain Ben Saunders suffered the most, conceding 43 runs off his three overs.

Johns hit his first three deliveries for six, four and four - 19 coming off the over in all.

It was Johns’ fourth cup innings of the season after three National Village ties had produced scores of 58, 56 and 100 not out.

That’s very much a case of starting off as he ended up, having compiled 75, 54 not out and 58 not out in the quarters, semis and final respectively of the National Village tournament in 2021.

Johns’ opening partner against P & S, Shawn Johnson, faced just 18 balls and ended unbeaten on 25.

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Opener Matt Benfield (32) top scored after Saunders had won the toss and elected to bat. Dan Croft (3-16) removed the top three in the visiting order, before Liam Carty (4-16) enjoyed cheap middle order pickings.

Matt De Villiers carried his superb Southern Premier League form into the T20 Cup as Hambledon defeated higher tier opposition in the first round.

The South African had compiled scores of 89, 67, 63 not out and 100 in his opening four SPL Division 3 appearances for the club.

He followed that sparkling run up with an unbeaten 52 as the Dons defeated Division 1 side Sarisbury Athletic by six wickets with almost two overs in hand at Allotment Road.

Asked to chase just 105 for victory, De Villiers - coming in at 23-2 - struck seven fours in his 44-ball innings to raise his seasonal average across all formats to 123.67.

De Villiers had earlier opened the bowling for Hambledon, dismissing Sam Floyd for four with just his third delivery.

He was brought back late on and, with the fifth ball of his third over, removed last man Jed Bradley to finish with 2-9 as the hosts were limited to 104 all out.

In between, Nathan Feltham (25) - two sixes and two fours - had top scored for Sarisbury while skipper Josh Hill, partnering Floyd at the top of the order and one of the most destructive batters around on his day, made just 11.

Jonty Oliver (3-15) was Hambledon’s most successful wicket-taker while De Villiers was also responsible for one of two Sarisbury run-outs.