Bashley’s Brad Currie celebrated his maiden half-century only to be stumped off the last ball of a New Forest thriller against Lymington, which ended in a tie, both sides scoring 245 in the BCG sunshine.
Bashley required five runs to win off Gareth Berg’s last over, which ended in dramatic style with wicketkeeper Ali Wheble taking a slick stumping off the Northants all-rounder to tie the scores.
All appeared lost when Scotland hopeful Currie [left] walked to the crease with Bashley 77 runs adrift of their victory target at 169-8.
But the Bournemouth University left-arm pace bowler, who has clearly been working on his batting techniques, found a reliable ninth-wicket partner in Lord’s indoor sixes hero Sam Crisp (22) and together they created some expensive overs and raised the score to 222-9, when the latter fell to New Zealander James Hartshorn (4-63).
Bashley still needed another 24 runs to win, but Currie – with last man Ben Fletcher at the other end – battled on until the very ball, notching his maiden SPL fifty before the Grayshott-based wicketkeeper stumped him.
Currie reflected: “I think it’s fair to say ‘WASP’ was all but dead when I came to the crease! Our hopes mainly relied on Jacob Gordon (46) doing the bulk of the work whilst I tried to support with singles.
“Then Jacob got out and the plan had to change. The revised plan was simply just to bat for a while with Crispy (Sam) and pick up runs where we could. Then it got to about 70 off 8 overs and that was where we decided to step it up a gear. I believe it was 55 off 6 overs roughly and then you’ll see we clearly targeted one over in particular.
Panic stations
“I spoke to Crispy and said this is the over we’re targeting and we executed it perfectly taking 16 runs off it. We then ticked it along but then lost Sam still needing 23 off 3 overs.
“It wasn’t quite panic stations though. I knew I’d have to do the bulk of scoring but I backed Fletch to keep out the balls he was tasked with facing.
“We needed five off the last over. Ideally, I wanted the game all but done by the last over as I knew it was Bergy who was going to be bowling it and someone of his class could easily take a wicket or even defend that five.
“We had actually got it down to five off 9 balls and so I was happy taking the single but hoped that we could all but finish it in the penultimate over… not to be unfortunately.
“Fair play to Bergy who bowled a perfect wide yorker on the last ball resulting in a tie. I was obviously gutted to not win it on the final ball but to get to where we got to against two pros closing the innings I was very pleased we managed to get anywhere near Lymington’s total.
“Lymo definitely didn’t deserve to lose that game and it would have been a serious ‘get out of jail free’ card if we did get over the line but not to be.
Bashley required five runs to win off Gareth Berg’s last over, which ended in dramatic style with wicketkeeper Ali Wheble taking a slick stumping off the Northants all-rounder to tie the scores.
All appeared lost when Scotland hopeful Currie [left] walked to the crease with Bashley 77 runs adrift of their victory target at 169-8.
But the Bournemouth University left-arm pace bowler, who has clearly been working on his batting techniques, found a reliable ninth-wicket partner in Lord’s indoor sixes hero Sam Crisp (22) and together they created some expensive overs and raised the score to 222-9, when the latter fell to New Zealander James Hartshorn (4-63).
Bashley still needed another 24 runs to win, but Currie – with last man Ben Fletcher at the other end – battled on until the very ball, notching his maiden SPL fifty before the Grayshott-based wicketkeeper stumped him.
Currie reflected: “I think it’s fair to say ‘WASP’ was all but dead when I came to the crease! Our hopes mainly relied on Jacob Gordon (46) doing the bulk of the work whilst I tried to support with singles.
“Then Jacob got out and the plan had to change. The revised plan was simply just to bat for a while with Crispy (Sam) and pick up runs where we could. Then it got to about 70 off 8 overs and that was where we decided to step it up a gear. I believe it was 55 off 6 overs roughly and then you’ll see we clearly targeted one over in particular.
Panic stations
“I spoke to Crispy and said this is the over we’re targeting and we executed it perfectly taking 16 runs off it. We then ticked it along but then lost Sam still needing 23 off 3 overs.
“It wasn’t quite panic stations though. I knew I’d have to do the bulk of scoring but I backed Fletch to keep out the balls he was tasked with facing.
“We needed five off the last over. Ideally, I wanted the game all but done by the last over as I knew it was Bergy who was going to be bowling it and someone of his class could easily take a wicket or even defend that five.
“We had actually got it down to five off 9 balls and so I was happy taking the single but hoped that we could all but finish it in the penultimate over… not to be unfortunately.
“Fair play to Bergy who bowled a perfect wide yorker on the last ball resulting in a tie. I was obviously gutted to not win it on the final ball but to get to where we got to against two pros closing the innings I was very pleased we managed to get anywhere near Lymington’s total.
“Lymo definitely didn’t deserve to lose that game and it would have been a serious ‘get out of jail free’ card if we did get over the line but not to be.
Above: Gareth Berg (left) in full flight for Lymington and (right) Conor Moors on his way to 88.
Lymington’s new captain Terry Crabb, fielded a greatly changed side with only four regulars from last season. Crabb (30) opened the batting with Conor Moors as the pair put on 55 runs for the first wicket.
Moors, 88 with eight fours and two sixes, cemented the Lymington innings, in an attacking knock, adding 44 with Berg (19) and 55 with Oxford University student Josh Royan (26). What a shame for Lymington work commitments are likely to restrict his appearances.
Further wickets then fell quickly including that of Hartshorn (13). Dan Cox (20 off 19 balls) then played a cameo innings to help ensure a respectable Lymington total in their 50 overs. There were consistent performances by all the Bashley bowlers led by openers Currie (2-45) and Dan Goodey (2-58). Tom Prest chipped in with 2-36, including the scalp of Berg. Jacob Gordon (2-23) took the key wicket of Conor Moors.
Bashley were also under new management, Josh Digby (44) losing Prest (to Hartshorn) early on before the new captain and Harry Broderick (16) steadied the ship.
The impressive Gordon (46) held the middle-order together as wickets fell regularly – island-based spinner Dan Cox returning a tidy 3-35 - to put Lymington firmly in the driving seat as Currie emerged from the pavilion with tension mounting.
The tension among the players and spectators was palpable and for the last ball – with the scores level – Crabb brought Ali Wheble up to the stumps and Currie perished. It was the debutant keeper’s fifth victim, including two stumpings off Darren Cowley.
Lymington all-rounder Ryan Scott suffered an abdominal injury during the match and underwent surgery in a Southampton hospital in midweek. He will be out of action for the immediate future.
Pictures by kind permission of Terry Nash
Lymington’s new captain Terry Crabb, fielded a greatly changed side with only four regulars from last season. Crabb (30) opened the batting with Conor Moors as the pair put on 55 runs for the first wicket.
Moors, 88 with eight fours and two sixes, cemented the Lymington innings, in an attacking knock, adding 44 with Berg (19) and 55 with Oxford University student Josh Royan (26). What a shame for Lymington work commitments are likely to restrict his appearances.
Further wickets then fell quickly including that of Hartshorn (13). Dan Cox (20 off 19 balls) then played a cameo innings to help ensure a respectable Lymington total in their 50 overs. There were consistent performances by all the Bashley bowlers led by openers Currie (2-45) and Dan Goodey (2-58). Tom Prest chipped in with 2-36, including the scalp of Berg. Jacob Gordon (2-23) took the key wicket of Conor Moors.
Bashley were also under new management, Josh Digby (44) losing Prest (to Hartshorn) early on before the new captain and Harry Broderick (16) steadied the ship.
The impressive Gordon (46) held the middle-order together as wickets fell regularly – island-based spinner Dan Cox returning a tidy 3-35 - to put Lymington firmly in the driving seat as Currie emerged from the pavilion with tension mounting.
The tension among the players and spectators was palpable and for the last ball – with the scores level – Crabb brought Ali Wheble up to the stumps and Currie perished. It was the debutant keeper’s fifth victim, including two stumpings off Darren Cowley.
Lymington all-rounder Ryan Scott suffered an abdominal injury during the match and underwent surgery in a Southampton hospital in midweek. He will be out of action for the immediate future.
Pictures by kind permission of Terry Nash
