ALTON followed up their T20 Cup triumph with an impressive victory over South Wilts at the Jubilee Ground on Saturday.

It was the Brewers’ first win of the season in the Southern Premier League and a superb run-chase was underpinned by a disciplined 65 not out by teenage opener Abhay Gonella and fuelled by a run-a-ball 61 from in-form skipper, Scott Myers.

South Wilts, league champions four times in the last six years, were always going to be tough nuts to crack and the omens were not good as the visitors, inserted on a hot, humid day, amassed 252-4 in their 50 overs.

Ben Mortimer produced arguably the ball of the day to bowl the prolific Tom Morton early on, a full swinging delivery taking his off-stump.

William Wade and the aggressive Owain Phillips moved the score to 60 before the latter was outfoxed by Julian Ballinger and stumped by Hugo Hammond and then Myers got Draper: South Wilts 84-3.

Wade and Joe Cranch added 69 in a good stand, but Alton kept the run-rate under control – that is until the late stages when, with wickets in hand, Cranch and Arthur Godsal took the attack to the bowlers, putting on 99 in rapid time.

Alton missed some chances and with Cranch finishing 78 not out and Godsal 47 not out off just 34 balls, South Wilts posted a defendable total.

But the Brewers fancied their chances on a flat batting track. Gonella and Michael Heffernan shared a watchful opening stand of 41 and then Dan Harris and Gonella saw the hundred up.

Harris holed out for a fluent 41, and after another Marco Marais cameo (130-3), Myers and the young opener added 97 in a crucial partnership.

Gonella, batting with concentration and skill, reached a deserved 50, while Myers forced the pace with a run-a-ball 61 before falling to Luke Evans.

At 234-5, Gonella struck his first and only boundary and when Alex Hammond followed up with a glorious straight six, Alton were all but there. They completed a five-wicket victory with two overs to spare.

It had been their biggest run-chase in the SPL and they owed much to 17-year-old Gonella, a Guildford RGS sixth-former (recently called up for Hampshire U17s) who batted throughout and faced 133 balls for his undefeated 65.

Scott Myers said of the teenager: “He did what we asked him to do. His job is to bat the whole innings while the rest of us bat around him.

“There was plenty of chat aimed at him about the pace of his innings, but nothing fazed him.

“He’s a very impressive young man, the way he conducts himself.”

• The league switches to red-ball timed cricket this weekend, with Alton away to New Milton.