Final SPL2 stats - Lymo Players featuring in the final list

Batsman

Dan Wiggins - 392 runs - 10th in SPL2 list - best 110

Keith Dabengwa - 334 runs - 21st - best 65

Adie Hunt - 264 runs - 24th - best 55

Bowlers

Lloyd Scott (age 17) - 25 wickets - 7th in SPL2 list - best 4-46

Christian Pain - 23 wickets - 10th - best 4-29

Keith Dabengwa - 19 wickets - 21st - best 4-34

Wicket Keeping

Mark Newton - 20 Catches/ 3 Stumpings - 1st in SPL2 list

Top Catchers by fieldsmen
Keith Dabengwa 10 catches - 3rd in SPL2 list

Full List of Stats

Stalwarts missing for Trojans finale

Lymington First XI travel to Trojans for the last game of the season tomorrow without captain Adie Hunt and Trevor Phillips. The skipper will be 3000 miles away in the USA undertaking best man duties for former Lymo pace bowler Jason Carr, while veteran seamer Phillips injured his back attempting to climb Mount Ventnor last Saturday. Also missing will be quickie Tom Myatt who impressed on his one and only appearance of the season last week. Coming into the team will be Second XI saviour Martin Hunt, stand-in skipper Christian Pain and Mark Newton who could clinch the Division 2 wicketkeeping award. Keith Dabengwa will be hoping to improve on his modest haul of 269 runs and 16 wickets on his farewell appearance for the club.

Missing

Safe!

Fears of a treble relegation for Lymington's senior sides were banished on Saturday as the First and Second XIs confirmed their places in their respective divisions for next season.

The Seconds pulled off a crucial last-day victory over Flamingos at the Sports Ground. Inspired by Marty Hunt's classy 70, Lymo overhauled the visitor's 208-8 to win by 4 wickets with Tom Thorp chipping in with a vital 30. The victory lifted Lymington to fifth from bottom with Cadnam, Petersfield and Redlynch the unlucky teams to be relegated. Match report.

Some strange goings-on at Hungerford meant that Lymo First XI were virtually safe from the drop from SPL Division 2 before a ball had even been bowled at Ventnor. News filtered through that the Berkshire side had forfeited their match against Rowledge, making it nigh-on impossible for Lymo to be caught. Heartened by this stroke of good fortune, the team put in a much improved performance against the champions-elect. Tom Myatt took 3-53 as the Islanders totalled 226-7, and Lymo replied strongly through Adie Hunt (21), Keith Dabengwa (41), Bryan Darbyshire (40), Mark Burrett (43) and Trevor Phillips (28). But when the latter two both fell with the score on 195, Lymo collapsed to 203 all out with John Birchall grabbing 7 wickets. The official Southern Premier League website later confirmed that Lymington were safe from relegation and the team complete their league programme with a trip to Trojans on Saturday. Match report.

Keith Dabengwa gave Lymo's reply a flying start at Ventnor

The end of the season couldn't come quick enough for the Third XI who fell to a 13th defeat of the season against Bashley at Woodside. Lymo were bowled out for 116 after their local rivals had totalled 231-4.

Sunday saw Lymington record their first victory in four attempts over Dan Peacock's Zimbabwean XI. A healthy Presidents Day crowd witnessed man-of-the-match Christian Pain take 3 wickets and then score 43 as Lymo chased the African's 190-9 to win by 3 wickets with just under 10 overs to spare. Bashley's Drew Porter notched up a fine 73 for Lymington while it was great to see Damian Shirazi back at the Sports Ground.

Presidents Day man of the match: Christian Pain

The curtain was drawn on another summer of cricket at the Sports Ground with a Bank Holiday fixture against neighbours Milford. The highlight of the match was a superb innings from Dom Di Maria who came agonisingly close to a maiden century. The stylish Italian was brilliantly caught by keeper Pete Hammet just one run short of his ton. Di Maria and Trevor Phillips (82no) had rescued Lymo from a perilous 67-5 and took the score to 249-6 at tea. With youngsters Chris James and Dan Waters grabbing wickets, Milford were all at sea before their young last pair bravely fended off everything that Will Thorp and Scott Tapper could throw at them in the final overs to earn a creditable draw.

Dom Di Maria: so close to a maiden century

New model arrives on Thorp Motors forecourt!
Congratulations to Tony and Lyn who are celebrating the birth of Hannah Louise. The baby arrived last Wednesday a full two weeks early and weighed in at 6lb 5oz. Thorpy is pleased to report that his new arrival has a noisy engine and, after inspecting the first few nappies, can confirm that she's a good little runner!

The Seconds in the pink as they beat the Flamingos and stay up, match report - SPL -Div 2 Stats

A spirited First XI lose their overseas fixture but stay up as well, match report

Presidents Day

This Sunday sees the annual Presidents Day fixture between Lymington and Dan Peacock's Zimbabwean XI. Dan's team currently lead the series 3-0 but are weakened this year by the absence of Test stars Trevor Gripper and Brian Murphy, and with Lymo including Bashley's talented Drew Porter, Sunday's encounter will hopefully be rather less one-sided than the previous three.

John Hardy and Dan Peacock

Despite the absence of Murphy and Gripper, the former Lymington First XI skipper will still be fielding a more than useful side including Clive Chadhani who has played First Class cricket for Mashonaland, Keegan Taylor who has appeared for Manicaland, and of course Dan himself who has represented Zimbabwe A. Another familiar name is Alec Taylor who played against Lymington for Sparsholt last season and formerly attended the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy in Harare. With Lymo including their own Zimbabwean Keith Dabengwa, the Sports Ground may well resemble a little piece of Africa this Sunday.

The match, which commences at noon, will be preceded at 10am by a colts fixture between Lymington's highly successful Under 11A and B teams. All club members and supporters are welcome to come along to the Sports Ground to watch both matches.

Down to the wire

Those of a nervous disposition may wish to avoid the Sports Ground over the next few days as Lymington attempt to salvage something from a pretty disastrous summer. The First and Second XIs face a nailbiting end to the season with both sides in real danger of relegation. The First XI - who face a daunting trip to top-of-the-table Ventnor this Saturday - probably need a victory from one of their two remaining matches to ensure their SPL Division Two survival, although if Hungerford and Purbrook both lose their final two matches then Lymo could well be safe anyway.

Lymington could have put all these relegation worries behind them if they hadn't suffered an all too familiar batting collapse chasing Andover's modest 210 last Saturday. The top order again collapsed, and it was left to Adie Hunt - who scored a fine half-century - and Mark Burrett to glean some vital bonus points as Lymo were bowled out for 175. Earlier in the day Christian Pain had continued his good season with the ball taking 4-29. Match Report

Adie top scored with 54

Mark chipped in with 33

Meanwhile the Second XI's Hants Division 1 status is hanging by a thread. They lie one place and just a few points above the relegation places as they go into Saturday's final match of the season at home to Flamingos. A defeat, coupled with victories for Redlynch or Cadnam, would almost certainly see Lymo back in Division 2 for the first time since 1995. Like the First XI, the Seconds could have all but secured safety but for a dismal 6 wicket defeat at Cadnam last Saturday. Match Report

The Third XI complete a miserable season with a local derby against Bashley at Woodside this Saturday.

Brian Rickman memorial trophy match report

Fitting tribute for Dale

The annual Dale Middleton Memorial match at Bashley saw Lymington record a highly unlikely victory after being set a daunting target of 316 in just 40 overs. Incredibly, Lymo cruised home with an over and 6 wickets to spare on a day when batsmen from both sides took full advantage of some lacklustre bowling on a feather bed of a wicket.

In an all-too-brief cricket career Dale Middleton became highly adept at smashing the ball out of the ground with sublime ease, so it's almost certain that he would have greatly enjoyed this match which saw a barrage of sixes disappear over the BCG boundary (and in some cases beyond!). And it was one of Dale's former New Forest Colts teammates Simon King who emerged as Lymington's hero, notching up a superb century. Kinger and Keith Dabengwa (80) turned the match on it's head with a 140 run partnership before Dave Griffiths and Matt Bowdler saw Lymington home in the 39th over.

Earlier in the day, Bashley's openers had set off like a house on fire, scoring 19 off the first over of the match. This total would probably have been even greater had umpire Bob Iles not taken pity on the beleaguered Trevor Phillips and called 'over' after just 5 balls! Ben Nolan-Stone, Neil Thurgood, Neil Prince and John Ward all hit half centuries as Bash bashed the ball to all parts of the BCG. Dabengwa's 4 wicket haul edged Lymo back into the game and kept the final total down to 315-9 when a score of 400 plus had looked on the cards for a while.

Meanwhile on the adjoining pitch the two club's under 15s sides fought out another suitably enthralling encounter. Will Thorp's swashbuckling 80 helped Lymo to 180 all out before Bashley reached their target for the loss of 9 wickets thanks largely to Josh Digby's battling 60.

Following the men's match Dale's mother Sue presented commemorative medals to the players and officials, while Lymo skipper Adie Hunt thanked everyone at Bashley Cricket Club for their superb catering and organisation.

Yet more agony for Lymington

Lymington Cricket Club are beginning to know just how the Queen felt when she talked about her 'annus horriblus' a few years back. All three sides were well beaten again on Saturday, and with the Third XI already relegated, the club now faces a battle to prevent its First and Second XIs from going the same way.

The Firsts produced a woeful performance at Rowledge, letting the home side off the hook after reducing them to 41 for 3. Ricky Yates (51) led the recovery, and as several simple catches went begging, Rowledge totaled a formidable 258-9. 'Formidable' soon became 'impossible' as Lymo slumped to 27-5 before debutant Paul 'Ginge' Newton (38) and Mark Burrett (55) salvaged a little pride and helped Lymington reach 161 and gain crucial bonus points. Ginge's innings was particularly memorable, slogging his first three balls for two fours and a big six after being told to “get your head down and bat for as long as possible in case it rains”!!! The pain of the defeat was later soothed a little by news of heavy defeats for Purbrook and Hungerford, but with tricky matches against Andover, Ventnor and Trojans still to come, Lymington will have to improve in all aspects of their game if they want to maintain their Division 2 status.

Mark Burrett reached 55, his best 1st team knock of the season

Like the First XI, the Seconds lie perilously close to the relegation zone, and they face real crunch matches against fellow strugglers Cadnam and Flamingos. A poor bowling display on Saturday allowed visitors Sarisbury to score 262-8. Lymington were well set at 180-2 when Guy Hayward was disastrously run out for 53 and the team subsequently slumped to 221 all out (Bowdler 53). Simon Naylor's Match Report

The agony is almost over for Lymington Third XI. They fell to a 7 wicket defeat against BAT despite an improved batting performance which saw them total 164. They now have just two matches left to try to muster up that elusive first win of the season.

Lymington Mini Cricket Week

Lymington's 'mini' cricket week kicked off with the club's annual six-a-side tournament which, due to a mathematical dilemma, hastily became a five-a-side tournament instead. None of these numerical problems seemed to affect Keith Dabengwa whose team cruised to victory, giving rise to the extremely rare sight of a Zimbabwean cricketer picking up some silverware!

The following day saw BATS Cricket Club visit the Sports Ground for one of Lymington's longest standing touring fixtures. The visitors totaled a competitive 205 with leg spinners Dan Waters and Justin Joachim both taking 3 wickets. Ed Molloy led Lymington's reply with 48, but wickets tumbled at the other end and when Matt Bowdler (20) was the seventh man out with the score on 140 BATS were definitely in the ascendancy. Some frantic running between the wickets from Waters and Joachim saw the target whittled down to 50 off 7 overs, but sadly a downpour put paid to any hopes of an exciting finish and the players retreated to the bar early to celebrate an honourable draw.

Deal Victoria & Barns Close CC were Lymington's next visitors and the Kent side were put to the sword by Matt Bowdler who notched up his second century inside four days. The little Aussie's scorching 129 included 3 sixes and 14 fours. Chris Todd also chipped in with 33no as Lymo declared at tea on 205-5. In reply Deal reached 41 before losing their first wicket. Marsh (24) and Hudson (32) progressed the score past the hundred mark, and with Killip smashing the ball to all parts the visitors began to sniff the chance of victory. The wily off spin of Marty Hunt eventually accounted for Killip for 50 while Trevor Phillips claimed 3 wickets to leave Deal requiring 16 from 2 overs with just 2 wickets in hand. The dangerous Francis then went for 16, setting up a tense finale as last man Scott McNamara bravely strode to the crease with his left arm in a sling due to a nasty injury sustained whilst fielding. Despite this handicap, McNamara kept out Phillips' final 3 deliveries and his fellow tailender Bone straightbatted Bowdler's last over to ensure a well deserved draw for the visitors.

Seconds go down all guns blazing
US Portsmouth score big, match report

First team lose to Havant II
Dan's 101 not out not enough! Match report

Home win for the Second XI against Petersfield
Matt's 114 not out is enough! Match report (with photos)

Wonderful Weekend for Lymington Colts

Lymington's Colts section is celebrating after carrying off THREE trophies last Sunday. The Under 15s and Under 13s both won their League Play-off finals at Wellow, while 20 miles away the Under 11s triumphed in the inaugural Bashley Six-a-Side tournament. All this came just two days after Lymington Colts had made their first ever appearance at the Rose Bowl in the Hampshire Under 11 cup final.

Great weekend for the seniors too!

It wasn't just the colts who were celebrating over the weekend - all the club's senior Saturday sides went a whole day without losing a match! Admittedly, this was mainly due to the apocalyptic thunderstorm which swept in at lunchtime, but it's a start! There were unreal scenes in Lymington as the Sports Ground was temporarily turned into a giant paddling pool and lightening streaked down all around. The Second XI fought their way through torrential rain on the M27 to get to Locks Heath only to discover that the match had already been called off. "You couldn't actually see the road, it was raining that hard" said a relieved Mark Jackson on arriving back in Lymington. The Third XI too had a wasted journey to Hordle. Bizarrely, once the storms had cleared, the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon. Unfortunately, the downpour had left the Sports Ground square and outfield in an unplayable state and the umpires decided to call the game off at around 3.30pm, to the disappointment of visitors Hungerford who had traveled more than 60 miles for the match. They perhaps felt that the officials could have waited a little longer before abandoning the match, although in fairness to the umpires, by 6pm the square was still wet in places and, more importantly, large areas of the wicket were like putty after water had seeped in under the covers.

The following day the Sunday XI pulled off an unlikely win at Calmore thanks to Matt Bowdler who turned the game on its head with 7 for 15 as the home side collapsed from 150 for 2 to 185 all out in reply to Lymo's 211. Martin Hunt (68) and Lloyd Scott (48) were the main contributors in Lymington's total.

Coaching Education Program

Coaching Education programme for 2006/07, see Doc 1, Doc 2, Doc 3 (all word format) supplied by Clive Surry, HCB Development Manager.

Wilts wilt in the heat!

Following Saturday's disasters, the gloom was lifted somewhat as Lymington defeated South Wilts by a whopping 167 runs in their Sunday friendly at the Sports Ground. Match Report

It can be done!
Lymo chaise down 309 and win against Canford, match report

Double Crossed!

Lymo's First and Second XIs both fell to defeats at the hands of their St Cross counterparts on what turned out to be a Black Saturday for Lymington Cricket Club.

Danny Wiggins (or is it Kevin Pietersen?)

The Firsts were bowled out for just 122 at the Royal Green Jackets Ground in Winchester with Danny Wiggins' gutsy 58 providing the only decent score of note. The home side made heavy weather of reaching their modest target, and were endebted to Graham Noble whose unbeaten 31 guided them to a 4 wicket victory after a mid-innings wobble. The one bright note for Lymington was Keith Dabengwa's best bowling stint of the season so far. He took 4-34 in 12 overs as Lymo were left to ponder what might have been had their batsmen nurdled out 20 or 30 more runs. Tony Whartons' match report

The Seconds were thumped by St Cross Second XI at the Sports Ground. Simon Naylor's men were smashed for 297 before being bowled out for just 105 with the stand-in skipper top-scoring with 29. Simons' match report

The Thirds and Fourths also endured maulings at the hands of Brockenhurst and Hordle respectively - the latter skittling out Lymington for just 24. That humiliating defeat left the Lymington hierarchy seriously pondering the Fourth XI's future - for the remainder of this season at least. Quite what newcomer Steve Van Guising made of the Hordle catastrophe was anyone's guess. Brought in at short notice, the South African-born batsman top-scored with 14 (which surely puts him into the Lymo record books for the batsman making the highest percentage of runs out of the final total on debut!) as Lymington were bowled out in less than 45 minutes. The Hordle opening batsmen wasted little time knocking off the runs and the whole match lasted just 12.5 overs.

At least the Third XI made their match against Brockenhurst last a little longer, scoring 107 before falling to an 8 wicket defeat.

Lymington under 11s secure a return to the Rosebowl

Portsmouth and Southsea 82 for 7 Lymington 84 for 5

Lymington U11 travelled to Portsmouth and Southsea to represent the New Forest at U11 level. In a close game Lymington chased 82 to win, with balls to spare. Lymington are now at the Rose Bowl on July 21st at 6.pm vs either St Cross or Hartney Whitney in the U11 Hampshire Cup Final. All supporters welcome.

The Rose Bowl - Lymo under 11s to play in the Cup Final

Seconds' victory is Naylor made!

Simon Naylor was the Lymington hero as the Second XI gained a priceless second victory of the season when they defeated Eastleigh & Otterbourne at the Sports Ground on Saturday. The former Brockenhurst opener scored a vital 78 as Lymington successfully overhauled Eastleigh's 239-7 to win by 3 wickets. Sadly, Simon's availability has been so patchy this season that club photographer John McGuirk has been unable to track him down to take a photo, so we'll regrettably have to print a photo of Chairman Peter Tapper (who scored 53) instead! The win lifts Lymington out of the relegation zone for the first time in weeks and gives Dave Griffith's side a real chance of avoiding the drop. Interestingly, four of Lymo's last six matches are against teams currently occupying places in the bottom six. Simon Naylor's Match Report.

Tapps glancing one down leg

The First XI sank to a disappointing 32 run defeat at Purbrook on an uncovered wicket. Extras again proved to be Lymington's undoing as the home side scored 202-9. Only Dan Wiggins, Bryn Darbyshire and Neil Trestrail looked at home as Lymo committed the cardinal sin of being bowled out with more than 8 overs to spare.

The Third XI's tortuous season continued with an 8 wicket defeat at Woodgreen, while the Fourths put up a good fight against Ellingham before losing by 3 wickets despite Luigi Di Maria's unbeaten 52.

Premier League Div 2 Player Stats

The mid season player stats are out and there's a mixed bag of news for Lymo.

Bowling

In only his second year playing for the 1st team 17 year old Lloyd Scott tops the league bowling stats with an impressive 22 wickets at an average of 19.6. He is already nearly up with Pete Smith's total last year of 25. Second place is held by Richard Taylor of Andover with 20 wickets. The next Lymo player is Christian Pain with 13 wickets at an average of 27.4 in 13th. Keith Dabengwa and Mark Burrett are at 9 wickets apiece.

Wicket Keeping

Leading the wicket keeping stats by a country mile is Mark Newton (Kiwi) with 17 catches and 3 stumpings. Second place goes to Cille Van der Merwe of Andover with 12 in total.

Batting

In the batting the first Lymo player Keith Dabengwa appears at 18th with a total of 195 runs, followed by the evergreen Neil Trestrail with 173 and even though batting low down the order Christian Pain with 162.

Complete List of SEPL2 Stats

Aaron proves he's not over the Heal!
Former Lymington overseas player Aaron Heal has been offered a full contract by Western Australia. The left arm spinner and middle order batsman earned his reward following a successful season back home in First Grade cricket.

Aaron made his First Class debut for WA against Tasmania in 2004, but has been on a rookie contract ever since. Unfortunately opportunities for the full state side have been limited, not least because of the bouncy Waca wicket which favours quicker bowlers rather than spinners and when Aaron paid a visit to Lymington in April he was skeptical about his chances of earning another rookie contract, let alone a full contract. Fortunately the WA selectors were impressed with Aaron's form for his Perth side during the last Australian season and offered the gangly off-spinner a new deal. Other WA squad members include Aussie Test stars Adam Gilchrist, Mike Hussey, Brad Hogg, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn, while four other former Southern League cricketers - Shawn Gillies, Chris Rogers, Luke Ronchi and Adam Voges - are also on full contracts at the Waca.

Aaron bowling to South African Jacques Rudolph in Perth last December

Aaron played for Lymington in 2002 when he scored over 600 runs and took more than 30 wickets. He is currently piling up the runs for Darlington in the South Durham & North Yorkshire League and hopes to pop in to the Sports Ground again to see his old mates before returning home at the end of the season.

Double trouble for the colts
Lymington's hopes of a league and cup cleansweep at all age levels was ended earlier this week when both the Under 11A and Under 13A teams were defeated in their cup quarter finals. Tony Thorp's Under 13s suffered a disastrous batting collapse at BAT and were sent spinning to a 63 run defeat while the 11s came a cropper at Bashley. It was the first time that either team had been beaten this season and although the defeats came as a big disappointment, both sides are still on course to win their relative league titles.

The Under 15s meanwhile are still in with a chance of the double. They are due to meet Wellow in the last eight of the cup and face a top-of-the-table showdown with Langley Manor this Sunday.

Jim Lowe

Despite the aforementioned cup exits, it has been a quite remarkable season for Lymington's colts section. The Under 11As, 13As and 15s are so far unbeaten in their leagues, while the Under 11Bs have suffered just one defeat all season and are currently top of their division with two matches to play. A very young and inexperienced Under 13B side managed by Jim Lowe (pictured) has made great progress during the summer and won more games than was ever expected. Add to this the growing number of youngsters turning up for training on Monday and Tuesday evenings and it's clear that the future for Lymington Cricket Club looks very bright indeed.

Hillman the Avenger as the Fourths are back in the black!

Laurie Hillman's splendid all round performance not only helped Lymington Fourth XI to their first win of the season, but also enabled the team to take their points tally back into positive figures following the 40 point deduction imposed by the HCL for Lymo's failure to fulfil two previous fixtures.

Bearing in mind Lymington's wafer-thin playing resources at the moment it was a minor miracle that Meg Gannaway somehow managed to scrape together a Fourth XI for the fixture with Suttoners II - especially on a day when several other sides cancelled matches due to the lure of the World Cup. Lymo's line-up was actually reasonably strong with the two Thorp boys, Luigi Di Maria and the hobbling Steve Coltman all returning to the side. And it was Di Maria (4-16) and Hillman (3-35) who set up the victory, helping dismiss Suttoners for just 108. Hillman then led the way with bat, scoring 30 as Lymo romped home for the loss of just 2 wickets.

Luigi De Maria Batting

Lymington are still well adrift at the bottom South West 4, averaging just 1.14 points from seven matches (which actually isn't too bad when the 40 point deduction is taken into account!), but at least the win does give a glimmer of hope at the end of a rather long tunnel.

There was little good news elsewhere as the Seconds and Thirds both continued their dismal runs at Hursley Park and Trojans respectively.

The First XI were batted out of their SPL2 match by high-flying Trojans at a sweltering Sports Ground. The visitors' 262-7 was always likely to be too many for Lymington, especially after a dreadful start to the Lymo innings which saw the team collapse to 4 for 3. Keith Dabengwa (52) briefly threatened, but once the Zimbabwean had departed it was left to Christian Pain (54) and Trevor Phillips (18no) to salvage some pride as Lymo ended on 201-9. Match report

Dabs notches up first ton on English soil

Keith Dabengwa registered his first century since arriving in Lymington six weeks ago. His 70 ball ton came as Lymo drew their midweek friendly against regular tourists Shooters Hill at the Sports Ground, Match Report

Tapper senior nearly gets ton against Ickenham, match report

1st team bounce back in style
after last weeks extra fest against Andover this week Lymo were positively frugal, conceding just 9. A good bowling and fielding performance restricted Ventnor to just 184 for 9, which, after a few upsets along the way Lymo reached the 50th over with 3 wickets in hand. Match report with some great photos

2nds meet their Waterloo, match report

Matt arrives in style!
He may have turned up seven weeks later than planned, but Aussie Matt Bowdler announced his belated arrival at Lymington in some style, taking 4 wickets and scoring a classy half century as visitors Didcot were beaten by 5 wickets at the Sports Ground. Match Report

SE Cup at Paultons match report

President Cup Holders Lymo lose to Mudeford in round 1 match report

OT's falter as the Firsts continue their winning run , match report with photos
Now its 3 wins out of 3 for the firsts as Kinger top scores with 79 and Kiwi takes 5 catches just a couple out of a number of top performances on the day

The Seconds have a bad day at the office, match report

On Monday 12th June @ 7.00pm Cricket-Hockey.com are sponsoring a club night for us.

As the UK's Premier supplier of cricket kit Cricket-Hockey will be bringing along cricket equipment for the colts, (and their parents, club members etc) giving parents a chance to SEE, TRY, and BUY if they wish to.

The correct kit is an important part of colts cricket, and after the recent run of colts with bats that would be better suited to myself (Jim Lowe!), I would recommend parents who intend to purchase bats to have their budding test players sized so the bat is properly suited to the player in future. Weather permitting there will be a B-B-Q going, and the bar will be naturally open. This is also a chance to chat with the coaches after a training session.

The Firsts win last over thriller for the second game in a row
So far this season it's been 2 wins out of 2 for the first team, but both have gone down to the wire. This time it was left to 2 colts to score the last few runs in the last over with no wickets in hand, Tony's match report

The Seconds out batted
Fareham and Crofton's 257 proved too much for Lymo, match report

Pixie's magnificent seven!

12 year old off-spinner Nicky Elliott has lodged an early contender for bowling performance of the season after grabbing SEVEN wickets for just 7 runs in Lymington A's Under 13 victory. Full details (inc photo)

A sad day for Lymington cricketers and drinkers – A tribute to John Mayman
Lymington CC was saddened to learn of the death of John Mayman, a great cricket lover, friend of the club and former landlord of the club's one-time winter residence - The White Hart. Full text

Taps on the main square

Who left the Taps on?!!!

All eight of Lymington's senior and colts matches over the weekend fell victim to the attrocious recent weather. As the photo clearly shows, Friday night's storms left the Sports Ground square with three huge puddles - one of which extended right underneath the covers, leaving Saturday's wicket dry at each end and sopping wet in the middle. Not even the famous Lymington Water Hog could help on this occasion: as soon as one lot of water was sponged off the square another lot would appear in its place! The Woodside square was slightly dryer (presumably due to the water gushing off down the slope towards the car park end which was like a swamp), but the wicket itself was still too wet and slippery to be deemed playable. At least the early cancellations saved the First XI a long journey to Hungerford where their recent record is pretty dire. However the Seconds, Thirds and Fourths might have fancied their chances of recording their first victories of the season in their respective matches.

Tense win for the first team
Playing at the sports ground Adie Hunt's team pulled off a closely fought victory over St Cross that went down to the last ball, match report
A young Second team lost to Bramshaw, match report

Annual Presentation Dinner date announced

The club's annual presentation evening will take place on Friday 7th April at Towles Restaurant, Walhampton. Members will shortly be receiving application forms for the event which costs £20 per ticket for adults and £15 for 15-18 year olds. Numbers are limited so please get your reply in early.

Third straight win lifts Lymo to fifth

Lymington batted first with Glyn Treagus (46 not out) the top scorer taking the score to 140, match report

Tapper's safe hands seal hard-earned victory

Simon Naylor was given a fright by his former Brockenhurst team-mates as Lymo narrowly won their penultimate match of the Indoor season at Lymington Sports Centre, match report

Senior League fixtures published
All the senior league fixtures are now published. The Fourths now back in SW4 will be visiting some teams for the first time, including Boscombe I AND Boscombe II. Unfortunately for the Thirds the game against Woodgreen is at home so their rather splendid teas will not be sampled by us this year, see fixtures

Nets - Christian Pain (batting)

Yes it's time to dig out those whites and - assuming they still fit! - come along to our first SENIOR TRAINING SESSION of the year at Hordle-Walhampton School on Tuesday evening (February 7th) from 8.30 to 10pm. The session will consist of nets and coaching with ECB Level 3 coach Dave Gelling and Level 2 coaches Trevor Phillips and Adie Hunt, followed by fielding drills.

There will be a £2 charge for the sessions which will run until April. Prospective new players of all standards are welcome to attend and further details can be obtained from either our First XI captain Adie Hunt on 07834 976809 or Chairman Peter Tapper on 01590 674660.

Colts training sessions is taking place on a Wednesday evening, also at Walhampton, and details of these can be obtained from Tony Wharton on 023 8029 2696, see the colts page

Council plan gives AGM grounds for concern - Report on the AGM

Our home since 1836

Dismal Lymington way off target
Lymington produced a frankly pitiful performance in their latest New Forest Indoor League match against a weakened Fawley, match report

Will he go?

Lymington have been shocked by the news that teenage wonderkid Will Thorp is rumoured to be at the centre of a bidding war between two rival SPL Gold League giants - believed to be Bashley and BAT. Teen sensation Thorp attracted the attention of the SPL big guns with a string of sensational performances for Lymington last season and has been valued at between 12 and 15 bottles of Panda Pops.

The 15 year old whizzkid is said to favour a move to Bashley in order to play alongside his hero Mark 'Figgy' Figgins. A source close to Thorp said: "Will idolises Figgy and it would be a dream come true for him to play alongside him in Bashley Fourth XI".

Speculation intensified with news that Lymington Chairman Peter Tapper was allegedly spotted at Bashley's training ground last week. Rumours persist that the Lymington supremo was there to discuss a deal to take the youngster to Bashley as part of a Panda Pops-plus-player exchange, possibly involving veteran batsman Shaun Lilley. However, Tapper laughed off the speculation, claiming that he had only been there to check out the electric cables.

SPL champions BAT are also monitoring the situation closely and sources claim they are ready to top any offer that Bashley may make. The mega-rich Totton club are confident that their pool table and superior range of bar snacks could swing things in their favour. Meanwhile, an eleventh hour bid from Sway seems destined to fail.

Thorp himself has been unavailable for comment, but his agent - father Tony - last night issued a press statement. In it the used-car magnate claimed: "every player has his price - a bit like one of my quality used cars now available at incredibly competitive prices (part exchange welcome - finance never a problem)."