Matt Metcalfe, 27 Premier Division wickets this season - so far !
Matt Metcalfe produced a season’s best 6-46, but then had calm dressing room nerves with the bat to ensure Lymington achieved a notable ECB Southern Premier Division double victory over Havant, whom they had previously beaten on the opening day of the season.
Lymington got in by three wickets chasing Havant’s 180 all out, but at 146-8 and 35 runs still required, the outcome dangled in the balance.
Metcalfe managed to find a reliable partner in teenager Josh Royan and on an increasingly difficult dry and turning Sports Ground surface, they nurdled 38 precious runs (only 12 came in boundaries) to get Lymington home.
The win was Lymington’s sixth in nine matches – no mean feat for a side many pundits feared might find itself embroiled in a relegation scrap this season.
Instead, they lie second behind Bashley (Rydal) in the Premier Division log, 30 points behind the leaders.
Metcalfe struck four times with the new ball as Havant lurched to 46-4 before half-centuries by opener Peter Hopson (50) and Jez Bulled, with an unbeaten 68, gave their bowlers a competitive 180-run total to defend.
Lymington’s top order batting this season has been unreliable – only seven individual fifty-plus scores have been posted in the nine completed matches – and once again there were problems for the late middle-order to solve.
Lymington lurched to 94-6 before Darren Cowley’s important 47 (36 came in boundaries) got them back on track. When he fell at 147-7 (to Chris Morgan 3-55), Havant regained the initiative.
But Royan and Metcalfe aren’t the worst nine and ten around and the pair added those 38 runs Lymington needed to win.
Lymington got in by three wickets chasing Havant’s 180 all out, but at 146-8 and 35 runs still required, the outcome dangled in the balance.
Metcalfe managed to find a reliable partner in teenager Josh Royan and on an increasingly difficult dry and turning Sports Ground surface, they nurdled 38 precious runs (only 12 came in boundaries) to get Lymington home.
The win was Lymington’s sixth in nine matches – no mean feat for a side many pundits feared might find itself embroiled in a relegation scrap this season.
Instead, they lie second behind Bashley (Rydal) in the Premier Division log, 30 points behind the leaders.
Metcalfe struck four times with the new ball as Havant lurched to 46-4 before half-centuries by opener Peter Hopson (50) and Jez Bulled, with an unbeaten 68, gave their bowlers a competitive 180-run total to defend.
Lymington’s top order batting this season has been unreliable – only seven individual fifty-plus scores have been posted in the nine completed matches – and once again there were problems for the late middle-order to solve.
Lymington lurched to 94-6 before Darren Cowley’s important 47 (36 came in boundaries) got them back on track. When he fell at 147-7 (to Chris Morgan 3-55), Havant regained the initiative.
But Royan and Metcalfe aren’t the worst nine and ten around and the pair added those 38 runs Lymington needed to win.
