Hook and Newnham Basics are out of the Voneus Broadband Village Cup after losing a farcical eight-over quarter-final 'shoot-out' against Cornish League side Grampound Road, writes Mike Vimpany.

Having made a 225-mile overnight trip to Truro, Hook arrived a good 90 minutes before the scheduled 1pm start time and then won the toss, putting their hosts into bat.

Then down came the rain. Hook were forced to wait over seven hours before the tie eventually got underway at 6.15pm.

"We warmed up, won toss and stuck them in. Mindful of the rules with no D/L and as little as five overs per side constituting a game that was a good position for us to be in," said Hook's cricket manager Vince Gardner.

"Then it rained heavily from about 12.45pm and the already wet pitch was saturated.

"The Cornish-based panel umpires made it clear to our skipper Harry Warner that any decisions about any abandonment or cancellation of the tie was theirs and that a five-over game starting as late as 6.40pm was on the cards.

"Warner protested saying 'what’s the point of a spare day to play the game' but it was ignored."

Basingstoke Gazette: Hook's cricket manager Vince Gardner.Hook's cricket manager Vince Gardner. (Image: Contributed)

Mindful that a postponment of the last eight tie would force them to concede home advantage and travel to the KGV next Sunday, the Grampound Road ground team worked their socks off, piling loam and sawdust on to the square as the sun came out and a drying wind blew across the ground.

"As we waited about, our lads contemplated their midnight-plus returns to their Basingstoke homes ahead of work the next day. We had already been on the road to Portsmouth fairly early on Saturday morning," Gardner added.

"We were all very disappointed that they hadn’t called it off at about 3pm. No Saturday match would have survived. Umpires seemed strangely intent on getting the game on."

Hook had been in poor Southern Premier League form in the lead up to the village cup quarter-final and had been skittled for a meagre 85 by Portsmouth the previous day.

Nonetheless, Grampound Road (bowled out for 57 by Calmore Sports in last season's Village Cup) were hardly setting the Cornwall League alight and went into the tie bottom of their table, with only three wins all season.

Gardner said: "They batted well but we fought hard to keep them to 69-6 off eight overs. Their crowd was very loud, so it was quite a spicey atmosphere to play in.

"As expected, our top five went hard from the off, but everything fell to hand, with their wily old bowlers doing a good job.

"Things really turned against us when Josh Buckingham (11) was run out when he was looking set - that really was the low point - and then, in the chaos, we lost seven wickets in 14 balls and were bowled out for 30.

"It was a really tough day, but we didn't want to appear sore losers and soaked it up, tried to smile and congratulate them afterwards."

With an early September trip to Lord's for the Village Cup final off their bucket list, Hook will now be concentrating on improving their Southern Premier Division 1 form.

The seven-wicket defeat at Portsmouth was their fifth in a row since thrashing leaders Basinsgtoke and North Hants by 100 runs in early June. 

They lie eighth in the table ahead of Saturday's home match with basement club New Milton.

Hook and Newnham Basics face Basingstoke & North Hants in the Guy Jewell Cup semi-finals at May's Bounty on Thursday, July 20, 6pm.