SPCL Premier Division cricket: Lymington CC’s opportunity to defeat local rivals Bashley (Rydall) CC thwarted by rain

SPCL Premier Division

Bashley (Rydal) CC 224

Lymington 206-5

Lymington missed out on a chance to beat local rivals, top-of-the-table Bashley (Rydal), for the first time in six years after rain intervened.

In an entertaining local derby, Lymington, who fell 19 runs short, were going well with 5.4 overs to go when a heavy shower came, preventing the game from being finished in time, writes Lionel Colby.

Lymington won the toss for a change, and captain Ben Rogers chose to field.

Bashley had several first-team players missing and a long tail, and the damp conditions helped the Lymington seamers.

They soon had Ben Walker out thanks to a diving one-handed catch by keeper Conor Moors off the bowling of Gareth Berg (2-45).

Fellow opener Will Tripcony (21) and Jack Stearman (48) then put on 30 for the second wicket before Tripcony was caught by Jovan Dhariwal off Guy Layman (1-12).

Stearman was joined by youngster Jacob Gordon (73) as the pair put on 92 for the third wicket before the former holed out to a good catch by Monam Abbas off Josh Royan (2-46).

Alex Turner (15) was then caught by Moors, who took four catches in the Bashley innings.

Captain Dan Goodey (35) tried to keep the lower order together, but once Gordon was out, the innings subsided as the last six wickets fell for 32 runs, mainly to Liam Thompson (4-57).

The total did not seem enough on a good batting track, with Lymington having 59 overs to get the runs, although this was subsequently reduced to 54 overs because of a rain break after tea.

With the hard new ball, it was a challenging start for Lymington with much playing and missing and both openers were out by the time 44 runs were on the board.

Jovan Dhariwal, after his almost four-hour knock of last weekend, only lasted 24 minutes before keeper Jack Harris caught him off a pacey Mahmood Azam (1-23), who unfortunately had to leave the game later after picking up a hamstring injury.

Rogers (11) was then out to Louis Prichard (1-40) before Royan (40), promoted to number three, pushed the innings forward before he ran himself out at the danger end going for a second run.

Lymington then fell to 102-4 when Kamran Dhariwal (18) was out to a spectacular one-handed catch by George Wilson off Gordon (1-57).

Abbas (56), though, was getting into his stride, and he was joined by Moors (60 not out) as the pair both with powerful knocks put on 89 for the fifth wicket.

Prichard then caught Abbas off the bowling of Goodey (1-60), but then the rain came to Bashley’s rescue, and the game had to be ended, leaving Lymington with the winning draw as their run rate was higher than that of Bashley.

Lymington hosts Bournemouth next, while Bashley (Rydal), who remain top, travels to face Havant. Both matches start at 11am on Saturday.