THE last all-day 'time' fixture of the season was played under brilliant sunshine at Havant Park.

With both sides having slipped out of title contention in recent weeks, the match did not seem to have the usual cutting edge that these encounters have had in the past.

Both outfits are devout opponents of the 'time' format and they will be looking forward to a return to limited over cricket this week.

That is not to say the two teams were not looking for a win, however, the wicket did not help the spectacle.

The glut of midweek rain had seeped through onto the wicket and although it was not difficult to stay in, it was testing to score at a high rate.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Havant progressed to just 12 off the first 16 overs as Alex Senneck and James Tomlinson gave nothing away as they probed for a wicket.

The breakthrough finally arrived in the 20th over with the score on just 26 as Jimmy Seeary forced Andy Perry into a mistake.

Simon Greenfield, 38, joined Simon Barnard and the two ground their way to 133 before Greenfield fell to Paul Draper.

Havant increased their run rate slightly as South Wilts' bowlers kept things very tight with little reward.

They finally finished their innings on 199-5 off 66 overs with opener Barnard hitting a composed 103 not out.

Draper was the pick of the Salisbury bowlers with 3-45 off 14 overs.

South Wilts began reply positively through Senneck, promoted up the order, and Draper.

However, the introduction of spin from both ends had the expected effect and the run rate stagnated.

Draper, 26, was first to go to Australian Matt Cox, who then made it a triple breakthrough to leave South Wilts in trouble at 68-3. Senneck had become more and more becalmed as Tom Caines, 14, and Russell Rowe, 29, attemp-ted to keep the runs coming.

However, any attempt to up the run-rate generally led to a mistake and Havant will regret spurning five straightforward chances.

South Wilts closed on 170-5 with Senneck batting through for 81 not out. Cox was the main problem, bowling an excellent 4-33 in 21 overs by extracting excessive spin out of the foot marks, while Phil Loat took 0-69 off his 24 overs.

Fifty-eight overs were bowled in total so South Wilts managed to score at over five an over off the seamers and under three an over off the spinners.

The score suggests that South Wilts did not go for the win but Rowe remarked: "We were trying to win, but it was very hard and the ball was just turning too much. You've got to remember that if they had taken their chances the score would have looked very different."

Saturday sees the return to the 50-over format with Andover the visitors to Lower Bemerton where South Wilts will be looking for their first double of the season.