Feature writer and self-confessed cricket nerd Hector Cappelletti - @YahoooverCC - took a stroll into the heart of the New Forest for a glance or two at the late August Southern League derby between 2019 Premier Division champions and near neighbours New Milton.
Four fifths of a mile. Or just over one kilometre depending on one’s choice of currency. Just over 1,400 yards. According to one esteemed internet mapping service the distance would take just 15 minutes to walk. It would take one longer to leave one’s lounge and reach the outer extremities of Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl complex, located just a short bimble from the aforementioned lounge.
Yet the aforementioned distances and time are those that separate the home grounds of Bashley (Rydal) and New Milton, two members of the Southern Premier League, the highest level of the club game covering Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and vestiges of Dorset and Wiltshire. Not quite on a par with the football grounds of Dundee and Dundee United, separated by little more than one hundred metres on Tannadice Street in the Scottish city, but close enough. From a sporting perspective, very much neighbours.
Nevertheless, the modern realities of professional sport dictate that the grounds and members may live in close proximity but one imagines that the players are likely to hail from pastures a little further afield. Thoughts that the players are drawn from the two locales are likely to be inaccurate, particularly as both perform at Premier League level, but it is surely not beyond the realms of possibility to expect that many of the players are from reasonably local climes. In contrast, family and friends associated with both clubs may well cross paths regularly outside of the cricket world. In club cricket this is likely to be a common scenario, particularly as most leagues are organised on a regional basis the further down a structure one travels.
However, at ECB Premier League level one would expect a large spread of clubs. Indeed, the 40 teams of the Southern Premier League occupy an area stretching from Bournemouth to Havant (near the east Hampshire border with Sussex) and stretching as far north to Rowledge in the south-western corner of Surrey. Understandably, the talent for clubs possessing Premier League status would also likely be drawn from a wide area. Ergo, two clubs so close together is somewhat remarkable. Throw in the presence of Lymington (just half a dozen miles to the east) and the emerging Sway closer still, this little section at the southern vestige of the New Forest proves a cricketing hotbed.
Eponymous
Bashley host the latest edition of this most local of derbies at their eponymous ground located, somewhat aptly, opposite the village hall. Just over half a mile may separate the two clubs but their paths have rarely met in recent times; three seasons of Premier League fixtures, from 2016 through to 2018, (four victories to Bashley, two to New Milton) the first in the competition due to the near neighbours residing in different divisions prior to New Milton’s promotion at the conclusion of the 2015 summer. New Milton’s subsequent relegation at the end of the 2018 campaign threatened to limit further playing opportunities but the Southern Premier League’s revamped, regional 40-over competition in the wake of the COVID-19 shortened season pits the two neighbours in the same division for the 2020 campaign.
Bashley themselves have resided in the top flight of the Southern Premier League since its change of name (from the Southern Cricket League) at the turn of the millennium and are arguably one of Hampshire’s best known and run clubs. They are the ECB Southern Premier League defending champions and currently sit atop the Premier/Division One West standings in the revised 2020 season competition. New Milton reside in mid-table and are likely buoyed by their victory over near neighbours Lymington a week previous.
On a blustery afternoon more akin to April rather than late August the hosts win the toss and bat first, confidently reaching 44-1 from the first ten overs. Opener Alex Turner and Ben Walker noticeably increase the scoring rate as Bashley reach the median point of their 40 overs cruising toward a significant total. Both players bat with authority and assurance, deftly punishing the occasional poor delivery as the hosts comfortably pass three figures. The pair’s stellar running between the wickets proves particularly effective in maintaining a healthy scoring rate as personal half centuries are reached in the same over.
Attacking shots soon become more prevalent during the second half of Bashley’s allocation as the hosts appear set to record a total in excess of 200. New Milton skipper George Watts rotates his bowlers but to no avail. Not even an early return for last week’s wicket taking hero can stem the home tide. Turner eventually perishes in the deep for 66 chasing quick runs but Bashley skipper Michael Porter flails a succession of early boundaries as the hosts pass 200 with more than nine overs remaining. Ben Walker appears set to record a brilliant century but his efforts are cut short eleven runs shy of the landmark as the visitors stem the flow of runs slightly. Nevertheless, Bashley record an imposing total of 273-6 to set New Milton a mammoth chase.
Four fifths of a mile. Or just over one kilometre depending on one’s choice of currency. Just over 1,400 yards. According to one esteemed internet mapping service the distance would take just 15 minutes to walk. It would take one longer to leave one’s lounge and reach the outer extremities of Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl complex, located just a short bimble from the aforementioned lounge.
Yet the aforementioned distances and time are those that separate the home grounds of Bashley (Rydal) and New Milton, two members of the Southern Premier League, the highest level of the club game covering Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and vestiges of Dorset and Wiltshire. Not quite on a par with the football grounds of Dundee and Dundee United, separated by little more than one hundred metres on Tannadice Street in the Scottish city, but close enough. From a sporting perspective, very much neighbours.
Nevertheless, the modern realities of professional sport dictate that the grounds and members may live in close proximity but one imagines that the players are likely to hail from pastures a little further afield. Thoughts that the players are drawn from the two locales are likely to be inaccurate, particularly as both perform at Premier League level, but it is surely not beyond the realms of possibility to expect that many of the players are from reasonably local climes. In contrast, family and friends associated with both clubs may well cross paths regularly outside of the cricket world. In club cricket this is likely to be a common scenario, particularly as most leagues are organised on a regional basis the further down a structure one travels.
However, at ECB Premier League level one would expect a large spread of clubs. Indeed, the 40 teams of the Southern Premier League occupy an area stretching from Bournemouth to Havant (near the east Hampshire border with Sussex) and stretching as far north to Rowledge in the south-western corner of Surrey. Understandably, the talent for clubs possessing Premier League status would also likely be drawn from a wide area. Ergo, two clubs so close together is somewhat remarkable. Throw in the presence of Lymington (just half a dozen miles to the east) and the emerging Sway closer still, this little section at the southern vestige of the New Forest proves a cricketing hotbed.
Eponymous
Bashley host the latest edition of this most local of derbies at their eponymous ground located, somewhat aptly, opposite the village hall. Just over half a mile may separate the two clubs but their paths have rarely met in recent times; three seasons of Premier League fixtures, from 2016 through to 2018, (four victories to Bashley, two to New Milton) the first in the competition due to the near neighbours residing in different divisions prior to New Milton’s promotion at the conclusion of the 2015 summer. New Milton’s subsequent relegation at the end of the 2018 campaign threatened to limit further playing opportunities but the Southern Premier League’s revamped, regional 40-over competition in the wake of the COVID-19 shortened season pits the two neighbours in the same division for the 2020 campaign.
Bashley themselves have resided in the top flight of the Southern Premier League since its change of name (from the Southern Cricket League) at the turn of the millennium and are arguably one of Hampshire’s best known and run clubs. They are the ECB Southern Premier League defending champions and currently sit atop the Premier/Division One West standings in the revised 2020 season competition. New Milton reside in mid-table and are likely buoyed by their victory over near neighbours Lymington a week previous.
On a blustery afternoon more akin to April rather than late August the hosts win the toss and bat first, confidently reaching 44-1 from the first ten overs. Opener Alex Turner and Ben Walker noticeably increase the scoring rate as Bashley reach the median point of their 40 overs cruising toward a significant total. Both players bat with authority and assurance, deftly punishing the occasional poor delivery as the hosts comfortably pass three figures. The pair’s stellar running between the wickets proves particularly effective in maintaining a healthy scoring rate as personal half centuries are reached in the same over.
Attacking shots soon become more prevalent during the second half of Bashley’s allocation as the hosts appear set to record a total in excess of 200. New Milton skipper George Watts rotates his bowlers but to no avail. Not even an early return for last week’s wicket taking hero can stem the home tide. Turner eventually perishes in the deep for 66 chasing quick runs but Bashley skipper Michael Porter flails a succession of early boundaries as the hosts pass 200 with more than nine overs remaining. Ben Walker appears set to record a brilliant century but his efforts are cut short eleven runs shy of the landmark as the visitors stem the flow of runs slightly. Nevertheless, Bashley record an imposing total of 273-6 to set New Milton a mammoth chase.
Bashley five-wicket hero Brad Currie races in from the pavilion end at the BCG.
Bashley claim an early wicket in the first over of New Milton’s response, and two more soon after, but the first portion of the New Milton innings features an amusing cameo of 32 from just 23 deliveries from Ryan Beck. The visiting wicketkeeper records half a dozen boundaries that are an eclectic mix of strikes back over the bowler’s head, edges over the opposing wicketkeeper and bunts through the off-side. There is also a fair sprinkling of playing and missing that provokes plenty of gasps and cries of frustration from the Bashley fielders. The frivolity is brought to an end by George Pardoe though as the visitors slump to 44-4 after ten overs, Brad Currie claiming three early wickets. The left-arm opening bowler, with Scotland ambitions, bowls his eight over allocation without a break and claims a further two wickets to complete a brilliant five wicket haul, three of them bowled. His 5-22 performance is something of a tour de force as the New Milton batsmen struggle to deal with his probing line.
All but defeated by Currie’s stunning spell, New Milton have little to play for apart from adding a modicum of respectability to the scorecard. Skipper Watts and Dan Loader manage said modicum with a steady partnership but, as the game meanders through its final quarter, there is a sense of inevitability; both teams aware that it is a case of when Bashley will win, not if. Loader eventually falls to the leg spin of Michael Porter and, despite a couple of late sixes from Alex Mills, the final four wickets fall quickly; Watts the penultimate dismissal for a well crafted 57 as Bashley triumph by 113 runs.
Predicament
COVID-19 has decimated the current cricket season in a manner likely unseen since the final years of the Second World War. Doubts over whether a season would actually take place at all dominated thoughts and discussions for many weeks until play eventually resumed in early July. From such a predicament, leagues and tournaments were temporarily adjusted and tweaked in order for something to be salvaged from the campaign.
The Southern Premier League’s decision to regionalise the top two divisions in its structure (and the two equivalents below) placed Bashley and New Milton in the same division and engender what is likely to be a rare meeting between the club’s two first XI’s for the foreseeable future. Whilst Bashley are currently enjoying a period of success, their neighbours from along the B3058 finished the 2019 campaign in eighth place in the Southern Premier League’s second tier. Convention dictates that a return to the top division for the Fernhill club is unlikely in the next season or two but such assumptions can often be proved wrong, particularly in league cricket where circumstances can change quickly. Maybe a repeat of the most local of derbies could return to the Southern Premier League fixture list sometime in the near future.
Hector Cappelletti : Yahoo over Cow Corner.
An eclectic, whimsical oeuvre of musings and ponderings on cricket, lovely cricket.
All but defeated by Currie’s stunning spell, New Milton have little to play for apart from adding a modicum of respectability to the scorecard. Skipper Watts and Dan Loader manage said modicum with a steady partnership but, as the game meanders through its final quarter, there is a sense of inevitability; both teams aware that it is a case of when Bashley will win, not if. Loader eventually falls to the leg spin of Michael Porter and, despite a couple of late sixes from Alex Mills, the final four wickets fall quickly; Watts the penultimate dismissal for a well crafted 57 as Bashley triumph by 113 runs.
Predicament
COVID-19 has decimated the current cricket season in a manner likely unseen since the final years of the Second World War. Doubts over whether a season would actually take place at all dominated thoughts and discussions for many weeks until play eventually resumed in early July. From such a predicament, leagues and tournaments were temporarily adjusted and tweaked in order for something to be salvaged from the campaign.
The Southern Premier League’s decision to regionalise the top two divisions in its structure (and the two equivalents below) placed Bashley and New Milton in the same division and engender what is likely to be a rare meeting between the club’s two first XI’s for the foreseeable future. Whilst Bashley are currently enjoying a period of success, their neighbours from along the B3058 finished the 2019 campaign in eighth place in the Southern Premier League’s second tier. Convention dictates that a return to the top division for the Fernhill club is unlikely in the next season or two but such assumptions can often be proved wrong, particularly in league cricket where circumstances can change quickly. Maybe a repeat of the most local of derbies could return to the Southern Premier League fixture list sometime in the near future.
Hector Cappelletti : Yahoo over Cow Corner.
An eclectic, whimsical oeuvre of musings and ponderings on cricket, lovely cricket.