5 May – week one
Hampshire Cricket League Regional Division II South West
Bashley 5th XI beat Lyndhurst and Ashurst II XI by 66 runs.
In a sun-soaked opening day of the season, Bashley skipper Neil Davies won the toss and elected to bat first. The Bashley innings got off to a good start with debutant South African Arno Hattingh and club stalwart Paul Kemp negotiating the new ball bowling of the accurate Anoop Chauhan and the pacy Danny Agha. After Kemp was run out for 13, Ian Britton joined Hattingh at the crease.
The right-hand left-hand combination proved effective as the two put the Lyndhurst and Ashurst bowlers to the sword in a free-flowing partnership with Hattingh amassing a debut half century. The home side’s innings stalled after Britton departed for 34 and Hattingh followed shortly after for 60. What followed was a collapse as the middle and lower order couldn’t get to grips with the fast deteriorating wicket with only Julian Hood (11) reaching double figures.
Chasing 152 to win, the Lyndhurst and Ashurst reply got off to a slow start with opening bowlers Jack Griffiths and Freya Cutler restricting the batsmen to only 20 runs off the first 10 overs. Scoreboard pressure, combined with accurate bowling from Paul Kemp and Joel Hood, as well as tight fielding, meant that the run chase never got going with only Charlie Brennan (24) making any score of note.
With the game quickly going beyond the visitors, Hattingh followed his half century by mopping up the tail, finishing with figures of 2-1-1-4. A great first day of the season and Bashley now sit in third place in the table.
Man of the match: Arno Hattingh
