Lymington came back to earth against local rivals Bashley after three consecutive wins. It was a flat performance on a difficult wicket against a side anchored at the bottom of the table and desperate for a win writes Lionel Colby.

Lymington lost the toss and were put in to bat by Bashley captain Michael Porter as bowling first at the sports ground puts the batting side at a disadvantage. Opening the batting Robbie Hemmings (2) was soon bowled by Louis Prichard (3-47) who opened the innings with his spin conceding just nine runs in his first nine overs. This brought Terry Crabb (33) and Dom Hand (51) together in another good partnership as they put on 54 for the second wicket. Crabb who is now the league’s sixth highest run scorer with 311 at an average of 34.56 was then out to George Wilson (4-45).

Hand though was holding firm with another patient knock and with Charlie Wilson (49) they put on 72 for the fourth wicket. Captain Gareth Berg (23) and Hand then put on 37 before Hand was finally out to Prichard having just got his 50 after a marathon 130 ball knock. Chasing runs at the end of the innings Jovan Dhariwal (10) and Josh Royan (14) were then both stumped by Patrick Lewis. The total of 224 was probably at least 25 short and so it proved.

When Bashley batted Ben Walker (29) held the early innings together as he and Alex Bourne (9) put on 20 for the first wicket before Bourne was out to a good slip catch by Terry Crabb off the bowling of Guy Layman (1-27). Jack Stearman (40) and Walker then put on 50 for the third wicket but Thor Howell (2-44) bowled Walker and Stearman followed, bowled by Charlie Wilson (1-55).

The dangerous Michael Porter (41) having scored the fastest century in SPCL cricket the previous weekend then set about the Lymington bowling until Howell had his scalp with the help of a catch by keeper Robbie Hemmings. This gave Howell 14 wickets, the joint highest league total for Lymington this season, and quite an achievement for this youngster who only turned 17 the previous weekend. It was Patrick Lewis who was holding the later order batters together as after putting on 63 with Porter then had support from Saifullah Achakzai (12).

The tension was then building up as Asad Abbas (3-28) did his best to stem the flow of runs as well as taking wickets. George Pardoe (12 not out) stayed to the end but it was George Wilson (23 in 24 balls ) who was largely responsible for getting Bashley home before he was run out by Dom Hand. It was left to Cameron Basey (4 not out) to hit the winning runs as Bashley got home with 7 balls and two wickets to spare.

Following the loss Lymington slipped down to seventh in the table while Bashley remain anchored at the bottom of the SPCL with still only the one victory. This coming Saturday play Bournemouth at Chapel Gate in another 120 overs timed game.

Photo: Asad Abbas among the wickets. Photo courtesy Stephen Nicholls