Ben Johns had the weight of captaincy – and run scoring – on his shoulders as he led Calmore Sports to a 43-run victory over Southern Premier Division 1 visitors New Milton at Loperwood Park.
Johns, who has taken the armband from the long serving Mark Lavelle, batted almost the entire Calmore innings, making 82 of his team’s 159-8, losing partners regularly along the way.
George Watts (3-32) & Co had Calmore reeling at 67-6 (by the 31st over) on a predictably damp surface, but Johns navigated his way through all bar four balls of the 50 overs, holding the innings together and sharing a crucial seventh-wicket stand of 87 with Ben Perry (25), which more than doubled the score.
Johns struck four sixes and five fours before being caught and giving Ed Bartlett (1-21) a deserved success.
Johns, who has taken the armband from the long serving Mark Lavelle, batted almost the entire Calmore innings, making 82 of his team’s 159-8, losing partners regularly along the way.
George Watts (3-32) & Co had Calmore reeling at 67-6 (by the 31st over) on a predictably damp surface, but Johns navigated his way through all bar four balls of the 50 overs, holding the innings together and sharing a crucial seventh-wicket stand of 87 with Ben Perry (25), which more than doubled the score.
Johns struck four sixes and five fours before being caught and giving Ed Bartlett (1-21) a deserved success.
New Milton wobbled at 19-2, but James Adams (61) and Lee Beck (32) eased the Green & Golds to 93 before the response fell to pieces in quite dramatic fashion.
Beck’s dismissal by Lavelle triggered a mass collapse as New Milton lost their last eight wickets for 19 runs – Perry claiming four wickets for just three runs – and were all out for 116. The last five wickets fell for just one run, young Aussie spinner Liam O'Connor grabbing the last two scalps.
Photographs supplied by Martin Fisher.
Beck’s dismissal by Lavelle triggered a mass collapse as New Milton lost their last eight wickets for 19 runs – Perry claiming four wickets for just three runs – and were all out for 116. The last five wickets fell for just one run, young Aussie spinner Liam O'Connor grabbing the last two scalps.
Photographs supplied by Martin Fisher.