Lymington boosted their hopes of progressing to the knockout stage of the SPCL T20 Cup with a thumping 119 run win over local rivals Bashley (Rydal).

Having been invited to bat first on a scorching afternoon at the Sports Ground, the experienced opening pairing of Terry Crabb and Garth Berg gave Lymington a blistering start, smashing 67 in just six overs. Crabb, in particular, was in hot form, hitting four sixes before eventually falling to George Wilson for 46. Berg’s departure for 39 in the ninth over saw temperatures rise even higher, and although the visitors briefly pulled the run rate back a little, Ryan Scott (12), Charlie Wilson (17) and Conor Moors (12) all kept the scoreboard ticking over before some enterprising shot selections from Robbie Hemmings (28) and Jovan Dhariwal (24no) enabled Lymington to end their innings on a challenging 186-6. Wilson was Bashley’s most successful bowler with 2-44, although Louis Prichard bowled tightly and conceded just 20 runs from his four overs.

Requiring more than nine runs an over, Bashley’s Saifullah Achakzai confidently smacked the first ball of his side’s reply to the boundary, but then, off the very next delivery, was trapped leg before by the wily Asad Abbas. Four balls later Michael Porter joined Achakzai back in the pavilion after driving the ball straight to Josh Royan at mid-off. Things immediately went from bad to worse for Bash when Berg then had Patrick Lewis caught behind to leave them on 6-3 from just seven balls. The wickets kept tumbling as Abbas (3-23) induced Prichard into skying a catch to Charlie Wilson at mid wicket, and when Berg’s deceptively slow bouncer was nicked behind by George Wilson to leave Bashley on 14-5, the match was effectively over. Guy Layman removed Kieran Pardey for 7 to further reduce the visitors to 37-6, and although brothers Sammy and Kris Lauren salvaged a little pride with scores of 17 and 19 respectively, Dhariwal’s 2-10 helped clean up the tail as Bashley were dismissed for just 67.

The victory was Lymington’s third in this season’s competition and sets them up nicely for their final match next month when they travel to the group’s other unbeaten side Bournemouth.