Southern Electric Premier League – Division 2 –

Paultons 186 all out (43.3 overs) : New Milton 116 all out (29.3 overs)

Paultons elected to bat and despite a good bowling display were able to post a competitive total with James the only batsman able to master the dry difficult surface. New Milton made a fighting recovery from a poor start but as the wicket began to crumble further Lamb produced a match winning spell to disappoint the home team with a second successive defeat with over twenty overs left.

Ennew (7) and James started slowly for the visitors with a 20 partnership before he was well caught and bowled by Lee Beck (6-1-32). Two more wickets followed in quick time with Dave Wheeler having O’Brien (17) well caught by Eric Linge, and White (5) adjudged lbw. Thoughts of a rout were frustrated by two match winning partnerships of 51 between James and Ray (27) ended lbw to Nick Gargaro (6-1-39), and 67 between Richmond and heavy hitting top scorer James (78 with 14 boundaries) finally defeated lbw by Linge. A major collapse followed with the next five wickets falling for only 15 runs, with three on 171. Ryan Beck (10-2-40) took two in one over having Richmond (26) well caught by Wheeler, and Robinson (0) caught by Gargaro. The returning Wheeler (8-4-33) then increased the pace having Lamb (3) caught by keeper Tom Prodomo, and Wickenden (4) clean bowled by a slower delivery. Linge (7-2-12) then polished off the innings by clean bowling Wilde (4). The home team were left feeling unlucky as an appeal for caught behind, with the snick heard around the ground, early in the James innings had been turned down.
Matt Freeman and Dan Adlem (3) got off to a steady start against the opening quickies who were exploiting the deteriorating pitch, until he was caught by Ennew off Dunn. Captain Wheeler (1) had a very short stay at the crease, with a feather edge off Wilde snapped up by keeper O’Brien. A rebuild of 24 between top scorer Freeman (26) and James Whitehurst was ended when he was caught by Ennew attempting a forcing drive off Dunn (8-2-39). The unlucky Whitehurst followed when like a fly by wire missile he picked out Wickenden, the only fielder deep in the leg side, off Wilde. With inform Lee Beck and Eric Linge (5) together there seemed a real chance of chasing down the total, but he too fell to the O’Brien – Wilde (9-3-19) partnership. Beck and Dan Loader then produced the highest partnership of the innings adding 42 and were still up with the run rate. When Beck (19) was caught Robinson off Lamb, it triggered a sudden collapse, so reminiscent of last season performances , with five wickets falling for just 22, with Lamb taking (3-5-8) including a hat trick. The next ball had Loader (24) caught by Ennew, and then Ryan Beck (0) was caught Richmond to complete the trick. The tail end offered some resistance until Lamb ended the proceedings with Nick Gargaro (5) clean bowled, and Tom Prodomo (13) caught by Robinson, leaving Ben Neal (2no). Despite the ‘demons in the wicket’ this was a really disappointing performance ending with 20 overs remaining. The team is still lying second in Div2 so there is still all to play for.

Posted on July 28th, 2010 by James Whitehurst
Filed under: Club News