Tommy Barton - 50 in 22 balls

A quite sensational 22 ball half century from 15 year old Tommy Barton set up a thrilling climax to Lymington Cricket Club's annual President's Day match. All seemed lost for the home side as they faltered in pursuit of the President's XI's massive 404 for 7, but the Isle of Wight schoolboy inspired a dramatic fightback which saw Lymington fall just 2 runs short of victory with the final pair at the crease.

It would difficult to imagine a better day's cricket: 600 plus runs, superb individual batting and bowling performances and a thrilling last ball finish, all played out on one of the most gloriously sunny days of an otherwise dreadful summer.

Even by the Sports Ground's high standards, the pitch for this match was a belter, and one particularly enjoyed by Lymington old-boy Glyn Treagus who registered a masterful 113 ball century as the President's XI rattled up 304 for 7 declared. Another of Lymington's prodigal sons - Jon Hardy - rolled back the years with a sublime half century, while there were also notable contributions from Peter Tapper (27no) and Damian Jayasinghe (20no). The pick of the Lymington bowlers was Alex Treagus who took 1-47 from his 10 overs and generally proved to be the most successful at keeping brother Glyn quiet.

Sam Raphael and Jerry Holt gave Lymington's reply a solid start before Holt (27) was dismissed by the all-Bashley combination of wicketkeeper Dan Friedman and spinner Neil Taylor with the score on 72. Just two runs later Raphael (39) directed a juicy full-bunger from his Adelaide teammate Tom Clerk straight to Ryan Beck at deep mid-wicket. Morgan Rushbrook, Cameron Grierson (21) and Adie Hunt (34) all manfully kept the score ticking over, but when Taylor snared the big-hitting Rushbrook for 68 Lymington's victory hopes appeared to be waning. However, the President's men reckoned without 15 year old Tom Barton. The Isle of Wight youngster simply launched into the bowling, smashing 5 sixes - four of those off successive Tapper deliveries (including two clean out of the Sports Ground) - on his way to a stunning 22 ball half century. But Barton's dismissal for 69 left Lymington's last pairing of Treagus and Trevor Phillips needing 15 for victory from the last two overs of the match. This was whittled down to four from Taylor's final ball. The wily old spinner kept his nerve to restrict Phillips to just two runs, and a most extraordinary match fittingly ended in an honourable draw.

Following the match Tommy Barton was unsurprisingly named man of the match, while President Brian Hobby thanked the tea ladies Diane and Elaine for laying on such a fantastic spread, and also thanked his own wife and daughter for once again supplying copious amounts of Pimms (particularly enjoyed by the club treasurer, it must be said). Soon-to-be-wed Wendy and Trevor were presented with a fantastic hamper set by the club, although it was denied that this was perhaps a hint that Trevor should be watching cricket rather than playing it from now on!

However, such a splendid day was tinged with a little sadness as Lymington prepared to say goodbye to one of its longest-serving and most popular members. After more than 50 years with the club as scorer, player, umpire and pitch roller, Robin Goff will shortly be emigrating to Canada with wife Mary. Several of Robin's former teammates from the 1960s gathered to bid him a fond farewell and the pair were presented with a set of paintings of Lymington as a leaving present. An article paying tribute to Robin will appear on this website soon.

Goffy's presentation and speech