Lymington squeeze home in a thriller against Burridge
Southern Premier League Premier Division
Lymington CC 173
Burridge CC 166
LYMINGTON'S spectacular reversal of form continued with a thrilling seven-run over Burridge to make it four wins on the bounce after losing four straight.
With many Southern Premier League matches called off, the Lymington groundsmen deserve credit for getting the game started with only a small delay for a reduced 42-over match.
Captain Matt Metcalfe lost the toss to Hilio De Abreu, who put Lymington in to bat on a damp wicket and slow outfield following the morning rain.
The decision proved a good one, with the hosts getting off to a poor start losing three wickets for 42 runs. The Burridge opening bowlers did the damage with Daniel Stancliffe (2-31) taking the wicket of Ben Rogers (10).
Soon after, Sullivan White (2-18) had Dan Cox (3) and Ryan Scott (7) caught behind by wicketkeeper Azimunnoor Chowdhury.
It was 20-year old South African left-hand all-rounder Ximus du Plooy (52) who anchored the innings, scoring a 50 for the third consecutive game during his knock off 63 balls, which included six fours and one six. His performance lifts him to fourth in the division scoring charts.
Ben Attrill (17) supported Du Plooy well, with the pair putting on 67 for the fourth wicket.
Once they had both departed at 117-5, it was left mainly to Josh Royan (31) with some innovative strokes to give Lymington a respectable total; together with Dom Hand (10), the pair put on 30 for the sixth wicket.
Brad Griffiths (3-27) ensured the tail did not put on too many runs, and despite the conditions, the total of 173 seemed barely adequate.
Burridge got off to a storming start with opener Chowdhury smashing a swashbuckling 56 off 57 balls in an extraordinary attacking performance.
After losing his opening partner Joe Collings-Wells (0) to paceman Josh Proctor (2-29), Chowdhury and James Hughes (13) put on 47 for the second wicket.
However, once they fell, the following four wickets went for only six runs as the Lymington bowlers finally got some reward for their efforts. This included the wicket of South African Hilio De Abreu for 0 falling LBW to Dan Cox (2-25), who had another excellent bowling performance on a wicket not especially helpful to spin bowlers.
Daniel Stancliffe (25) led a limited recovery before Luke Mortimore stumped him off Du Plooy (2-22).
There followed a good partnership of 41 as Will Candy (30) and Sullivan White (18) regained the initiative with some aggressive running between the wickets. But the Lymington pacemen returned to the attack, including James Wade (3-30), putting the late-order batsmen under pressure.
The last three wickets fell for just seven runs, with Luke Mortimore running out Duncan Fraser (2) to ensure victory.
Lymington will look to notch their fifth consecutive victory at the expense of Havant at Havant Park on Saturday at 11.30am.
