Lymington dished out a hammering for the second week running in another dominant performance with a 6-wicket win and 23 overs to spare in a low scoring game at Basingstoke. Lymington remain in second position with four wins out of five and three points behind league leaders and local rivals Bashley. Captain Gareth Berg again led the way with both his bowling and batting as he continued his stunning start to the season. After five league games he is the leading wicket taker in the Premier Division with 14 at an average of just 9.86, by far the best, and the third highest run scorer with 249 at an average of 62.25.

Lymington lost the toss and Basingstoke elected to bat on a hard dry wicket with uneven outfield but must have soon regretted it. After 3.5 overs the innings was in tatters at 8-3. Opening the bowling Eddie Withington (2-21) had his trademark first over wicket having Abilash Nanthakumar for a three-ball duck. Not to be outdone Gareth Berg (2-25) with his first ball clean bowled fellow opener Abdullah Abid (0) and then had Ethan O’Donohue (1) in his second over. George Metzger (26) and captain Matt Deadman (19), last season’s leading run scorers for Basingstoke, steadied the ship for a while putting on 32 for the fourth wicket before Metzger was out lbw to Withington.

Deadman was then joined by Matt Donaldson who top scored with 32 and they put on 41 for the fifth wicket before they were both out to Monam Abbas (3-21) with his left arm spin. 15 year old pace bowler Thor Howell (1-22) making his first team debut had Dean Nurse (6) caught by Terry Crabb much to the relief of his onlooking father. Basingstoke wickets continued to tumble as the Lymington bowlers kept their grip on the game and the side finally succumbed in the 35 over despite Joe Oates (27).

The Basingstoke side though must have thought they had a real chance of winning when Lymington tumbled to 60-4 with some injudicious batting with all of them caught. Opener Monam Abbas (14 in just 7 balls) hit a massive six that landed well outside the ground but was then caught off a skier three balls later bowled by Matt Deadman (2-35) but who only lasted 4.1 overs before injuring himself. Fellow opener Ben Shoare (20) lasted somewhat longer before he was also out to Deadman.

However, Jovan Dhariwal (30 not out) with his normal excellent batting technique was then joined by Gareth Berg (54 not out). After a slow and slightly shaky start to the 88-run partnership, the pair played responsibly and saw Lymington home. The last 44 runs took little more than four overs with Berg striking nine fours.

Les Mondy-Flesh kindly sponsored the match ball and intends sponsoring the return fixture.

This coming Saturday the side are home to Alton who lie seventh in the table in the first of the timed games with an earlier 11.00am start.