James Hayward hit 16 fours in his 89 [Roy Honeybone]
South Wilts lost their first two wickets for only five runs against New Milton – but ended up scoring 286-7 to set up a comfortable 149-run Southern Premier League Cup victory.
It was their first success in the 40-over end season competition, which was introduced last month to provide competitive cricket for SPL clubs following the abandonment of the standard scheduled league programme due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But things did not begin well for South Wilts, with Lee Beck (2-66) having Devizes recruit Tom Grant caught and then dismissing Arthur Godsal first ball.
That was good as it got for the toss-winning Green & Golds for a long while – the patient Jack Stearman (60) proving the ideal foil for James Hayward to entertain the sun kissed Bemerton followers with a fine array of shots.
While the bespectacled left-handed Stearman quietly went about his business, accumulating ten boundaries in his 60, Hayward breached the boundary rope 16 times and, at 89, looked set for a century when he missed a straight one from Dan Loader (2-72).
The pair put on 165 before Ben Draper made 49 and Jack Mynott cut loose with 37 not out off 22 balls.
Opener Toby Edwards hit five boundaries in making 23 of the first 26 runs the visitors scored, but the Division 1 visitors were dismissed for 137 in the 34th over, with James Wade, Matt Burton and Mynott each taking two wickets.
The undoubted positive for New Milton was the return of Ollie Shrubsole, left, who top scored with 43. The youngster, another product of Parley’s youth system, had been side-lined for two seasons after sustaining a serious knee injury playing in an end of season friendly for Swanage, his home town club, against Poole Town.
He has spent the past two years in rehabilitation, tiptoeing back onto the scene in some friendly cricket. His outing at Bemerton was his first for New Milton since September 2017 when he hit 67 against Andover.
It was their first success in the 40-over end season competition, which was introduced last month to provide competitive cricket for SPL clubs following the abandonment of the standard scheduled league programme due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But things did not begin well for South Wilts, with Lee Beck (2-66) having Devizes recruit Tom Grant caught and then dismissing Arthur Godsal first ball.
That was good as it got for the toss-winning Green & Golds for a long while – the patient Jack Stearman (60) proving the ideal foil for James Hayward to entertain the sun kissed Bemerton followers with a fine array of shots.
While the bespectacled left-handed Stearman quietly went about his business, accumulating ten boundaries in his 60, Hayward breached the boundary rope 16 times and, at 89, looked set for a century when he missed a straight one from Dan Loader (2-72).
The pair put on 165 before Ben Draper made 49 and Jack Mynott cut loose with 37 not out off 22 balls.
Opener Toby Edwards hit five boundaries in making 23 of the first 26 runs the visitors scored, but the Division 1 visitors were dismissed for 137 in the 34th over, with James Wade, Matt Burton and Mynott each taking two wickets.
The undoubted positive for New Milton was the return of Ollie Shrubsole, left, who top scored with 43. The youngster, another product of Parley’s youth system, had been side-lined for two seasons after sustaining a serious knee injury playing in an end of season friendly for Swanage, his home town club, against Poole Town.
He has spent the past two years in rehabilitation, tiptoeing back onto the scene in some friendly cricket. His outing at Bemerton was his first for New Milton since September 2017 when he hit 67 against Andover.
