LYMINGTON skipper Simon Beetham hailed the impact of Matt Metcalfe after the medium-pacer tore into St Cross Symondians and sent the previously unbeaten Winchester club tumbling to a 41-run Premier Division defeat.
The visitors banked victory in their first Time pennant game of the season thanks in no small part to Metcalfe, who racked up figures of 5-46, writes Ned Payne.
The right-armer bowled nine maidens in 21 overs as St Cross vainly tried to chase down 161, Symondians only making it to 120 all out.
And Beetham admitted the 30-year-old Metcalfe had been the key man for his team.
Beetham said: "We batted first and didn't quite post what we should have done. Richie Lock and Dom Hand batted well but, unfortunately, we gave our wickets away in the middle and towards the latter end of the innings.
"A total of 161 was something to bowl at, but we weren't 100 per cent confident in it.
"Fortunately, we managed to get an early wicket and then gave Matt Metcalfe the ball at one end and let him get on with it.
"He found a bit of form which was very nice to see and he won us the game on his own. There were times the batsmen couldn't get near him and that was a credit to the way he bowled.
"He got the crucial wickets at the crucial times and we managed to hold our catches and come out on top."
Second-wicket pair Dom Hand (30) and Richard Lock (45), aided by Ed Ellis (25), guided Lymington to 108-2 – but spin pair Louis Kimber (5-23) and George Worker (4-47) regularly took wickets.
Lymington owed it to Beetham (27) himself for their 161 all out.
St Cross struggled after losing opening pair Worker and Matt Stokes to the new ball, with only the Lincolnshire based Kimber (34) making an impression.
Metcalfe, pictured by Roy Honeybone, gradually worked his way through the order, with Ellis’s four victims including the key one of Kent aspirant Adam Rouse (18) and Tom Foyle (21).
The visitors banked victory in their first Time pennant game of the season thanks in no small part to Metcalfe, who racked up figures of 5-46, writes Ned Payne.
The right-armer bowled nine maidens in 21 overs as St Cross vainly tried to chase down 161, Symondians only making it to 120 all out.
And Beetham admitted the 30-year-old Metcalfe had been the key man for his team.
Beetham said: "We batted first and didn't quite post what we should have done. Richie Lock and Dom Hand batted well but, unfortunately, we gave our wickets away in the middle and towards the latter end of the innings.
"A total of 161 was something to bowl at, but we weren't 100 per cent confident in it.
"Fortunately, we managed to get an early wicket and then gave Matt Metcalfe the ball at one end and let him get on with it.
"He found a bit of form which was very nice to see and he won us the game on his own. There were times the batsmen couldn't get near him and that was a credit to the way he bowled.
"He got the crucial wickets at the crucial times and we managed to hold our catches and come out on top."
Second-wicket pair Dom Hand (30) and Richard Lock (45), aided by Ed Ellis (25), guided Lymington to 108-2 – but spin pair Louis Kimber (5-23) and George Worker (4-47) regularly took wickets.
Lymington owed it to Beetham (27) himself for their 161 all out.
St Cross struggled after losing opening pair Worker and Matt Stokes to the new ball, with only the Lincolnshire based Kimber (34) making an impression.
Metcalfe, pictured by Roy Honeybone, gradually worked his way through the order, with Ellis’s four victims including the key one of Kent aspirant Adam Rouse (18) and Tom Foyle (21).
