SPCL Premier Division cricket: Lymington suffer at the hands of local rivals Bashley (Rydal)
SPCL Premier Division
Lymington CC 123
Bashley CC 124-2
LYMINGTON’S disappointing start to the season continued, losing heavily to local rival Bashley by eight wickets.
Bashley might have fielded a strong side, but Lymington were almost at full strength despite losing captain Ben Rogers.
Given that it was the first home game of the season, credit must be given to groundsmen Chris Hunt and Colin Cooper for a wicket that played well despite the adverse spring weather conditions that made pitch preparation so tricky.
It was inevitable that after losing the toss, Bashley captain Michael Porter put Lymington into bat on a wicket, offering help to the bowlers.
Yet Monam Abbas (16) and Jovan Dhariwal (31) got Lymington off to a great start, despite the efforts of opening bowlers Brad Currie (3-18), who now plays for Sussex and Scotland, and current Hampshire seconds player James Trodd (2-31).
Abbas was eventually caught by George Wilson with Ryan Scott then out first ball, both falling to Trodd.
However, Kamran Dhariwal avoided the hat-trick, and the Dhariwal brothers went on a 50-run partnership for the third wicket before Kamran was caught off the bowling of Jacob Gordon (2-25).
Jovan then quickly followed with his reverse sweep straight down the throat of Saif Achakzai, who then caught Jude Tollerfield (12) after a disciplined knock.
For the second week running, Josh Royan (17) held the lower order together before being out LBW to part-time bowler Michael Porter (2-1 in two balls, including a wide).
Porter then removed Asad Abbas to end the Lymington innings with more than 11 overs to spare, with the last eight wickets going down for just 43 runs.
The Bashley batters were in no mood to hang about, led by Jacob Gordon (28, including five fours), before Robbie Hemmings caught him off the bowling of Guy Layman (1-10).
Fellow opener Will Tripcony (38, including six fours) then got going before he was stumped by Hemmings after trying to outsmart Jude Tollerfield (1-15).
Jack Stearman (12 not out) and captain Porter (36 not out), with an unbroken partnership of 48, saw Bashley home with 28 overs to spare.
It ended a disappointing day for stand-in captain Gareth Berg and all the players.
Lymington are at East Parley – a noisy venue at the end of the Bournemouth Airport runway – against Bournemouth, while Bashley (Rydal) hosts Havant. Both games are at 12.30pm on Saturday.
