Following a second wash out last week, Alton 2XI were glad to see the sun out as they hosted Hartley Witney at the JCG. Winning the toss, Alton were elected to bat, hoping to pile on the runs on a great day for batting.

After a slow start, Alton lost a couple of wickets, before Michael Heffernan (90) came to the crease. In spite of a slightly two-paced deck, Alton's number 3 looked composed from the off, as he picked off any loose deliveries.

When joined by Mark Heffernan (29), Alton began to kick on and drive the rate forward. Hartley Witney continued to pick up wickets, but Heffernan stayed firm until eventually falling just 10 short of a century as he picked out square leg on the sweep.

With the platform firmly set it was time for Matt Crane (41) to close out the innings as he used his trademark sweep to propel Alton to a sizeable first innings total of 267.

In response Hartley Witney came out firing with some aggressive batting early on, however Arul Appavoo (4-40) held his nerve to nip the ball back past the batters, and earn Alton 3 early wickets.

However, Hartley Witney were still scoring at a good rate, and continued to build towards chasing down the total. Alton's spin attack was able to drag the scoring rate down considerably through the middle overs, however with wickets in hand the game was still alive.

George Blest (76) began to put the pressure back on the hosts with some clean hitting, and with 8 overs to go the game was in the balance. However, it was at this stage that Toby Taylor (2-49) returned to the attack to produce an excellent spell of death bowling and dismiss the set batter. His spell ended the chase, and Alton ultimately won by 36 runs.

A great days cricket to match the weather ended with another strong Alton win, as the Brewers continue to show serious form at the start of the season.