AMESBURY bounced back from the defeat to Winton with a hard-fought four-wicket victory against Whiteparish at their Archer's Gate home.

Amesbury's opening bowling combination of Gareth Dobson and Jayden Atkinson got to work, with Dobson striking in only his second over - dismissing Barney Orr through the gate for one.

Dobson then quickly followed up with the wicket of Whiteparish skipper Hamblin, caught behind after an excellent low catch by wicketkeeper Adi Berry for 0 to leave Whiteparish 9/2.

With Dobson and Atkinson both bowling accurately, opener Tom Reynolds and Jack Orr were content to dig-in and rebuild the innings. However, the introduction of Jordan Derbyshire proved key, bowling Orr when looking set on 20 to leave Whiteparish 65/3. Jim Dovey joined Reynolds at the crease and together they began to build a useful partnership. Reynolds played a number of aggressive strokes to pass his 50, although shortly after reaching his milestone, offered a simple opportunity to Jayme Underwood at mid-off, off the bowling of Surendran to depart for a well made 52.

Dobson, after completing an excellent spell of 2/28, was replaced by Tony Gower and, in his third over, claimed the scalp of Dovey, bowling him for 31. Gower then removed the aggressive Ben Fisher after a good catch by Jayden Atkinson at mid-wicket for 14 to leave Whiteparish 121/5.

Whiteparish's lower order attempted to counter, with Richie De Costa well placed on 32 until having his stumps dislodged by Jayden Atkinson. His brother, Macauley Atkinson, joined him the wickets column and a further run-out in the final over led to Whiteparish closing their innings on 172/9.

In response, Amesbury's openers, Underwood and Sam Dando, moved the score to 19, until Dando was caught behind off the bowling of Fisher for eight and Jordan Derbyshire quickly followed. Dave Bailey, promoted up the order to number four, played nicely until a brilliant low catch by wicketkeeper Reynolds accounted for his dismissal, caught behind for eight off Turk to leave Amesbury 36/3.

Underwood and Dale Gower began to accelerate, with Gower in particular, punishing any loose deliveries. The score had advanced to 60 until Underwood was run-out for 17 and Gower then quickly followed, bowled by Dovey for 20.

With the scoreboard reading 65/5, Amesbury were firmly in the mire, however the key part of the game was about to unfold, with Surendran and Jayden Atkinson at the crease. After initially looking watchful, they began to rebuild to bring Amesbury back into the game. Surendran played a number of controlled drives and cuts, while Atkinson content to rotate the strike to edge Amesbury closer to the required target.

After (and what ultimately proved to be) a match-winning partnership of 75, Atkinson was caught at cover off Barney Orr to depart for a superbly made 27. With Amesbury still needing 31 off 5 overs, Surendran passed his fifty and in combination with Macauley Atkinson, manoeuvred the ball around the ground to bring Amesbury home in the penultimate over.