Lymington clocked up three league wins on the trot at Alton led by an attacking knock from Kamran Dhariwal but it was a tough game on a difficult pitch played in bitterly cold conditions. Alton though eventually succumbed as the Lymington bowlers kept a tight lid on the opposition batters.

Lymington lost the toss for the fourth time this season and were inevitably put in to bat under a cloudy sky. Captain Ben Rogers (6) was soon out bowled by South African Bash Walters (4-34). However, Robbie Hemmings (20) promoted up the order hung in there for an hour to thwart the Alton bowlers. He was initially supported by Gareth Berg (10) before opening bowler Jude Wright (2-24) had both out. Hemmings was then helped by another good knock from Monam Abbas (41 in 49 balls) who then went to put on 57 runs for the fourth wicket with Kamran Dhariwal. Dhariwal has also been in fine form and his knock of 76 at a run a ball included six fours and four mammoth sixes as he and Saqlain Choudhary (37) put on 88 runs for the fifth wicket. Yet the game again turned again as Lymington’s fragile tail resulted in the last six wickets only putting on 26 runs as the pace of Walters mopped up the innings.

Going in to bat Alton were soon in trouble slipping to 42-4 despite Daniel Harris (34) holding fort for a while largely due to Gareth Berg (3-19) before flying to Rome the following day to captain and coach Italy in the ICC T20 Europe qualifiers. Sam Ruffell (22) and Ben Rolfs (45) staged a bit of a recovery as they put on 39 for the fifth wicket before Liam Thomspon (3-52) had Ruffell caught by Choudhary. Alton then further accelerated as Rolfs was joined by Mark Heffernan (28) but just as the game looked like turning again Monam Abbas (1-33) had Rolfs trapped lbw after a 49-run partnership. The Alton tail wagged for a while but the last three wickets fell for just 18 runs as Thompson mopped up the tail plus a wicket for Jude Tollerfield (1-15) with Josh Royan closing the Alton innings with a run out and Lymington were home by 34 runs

This coming Saturday Lymington are at home to newly promoted Basingstoke and North Hants in another timed game with an 11 am start. The side will hope to move further up the table in a league that is beginning to look quite open.