Monam Abbas helps ensure Lymington preserve their Premier Division status

Lymington finally got themselves out of a hole and instead of being relegated ended up in the top half of the table (finishing fifth) with this emphatic win against Totton and Eling who themselves were relegated. Monam Abbas led the way with the bat with a crucial knock of 78 and then with the ball in stymying the Totton innings. He was helped by a five wicket haul from Gareth Berg who has just retired from professional cricket after 20 years in the game. Under vice-captain Josh Royan, as captain Ben Rogers was on holiday, it was a great team performance for the second game running and inevitably ended in relief among the players. But was it the case of what might have been given the talent and experience in the Lymington side as the league has been very open this season with no outstanding team, finally won by Burridge.

Josh Royan won the toss and to the surprise of the opposition opted to bat first and it paid off. Brothers Kam and Jovan Dhariwal opened the innings with Kam being especially aggressive before he holed out to Josh May off opening bowler Brighton Mugochi (1-26). Jovan with a patient knock then featured in further partnerships with Ryan Scott (23) and Monam Abbas (78 in 87 balls). Gareth Berg (12) did not last long bowled by off-spinner Harry Stephens (4-60) much to the relief of the Totton players. However, this then brought in Dan Cox (40) with a breezy knock putting on 88 with Monam in just 80 balls before both were out. Josh Royan then hammered his way to 32 not out in 20 balls that included a six onto the railway but luckily because of strikes no trains were running!!

In reply Totton never seemed like getting close to the challenging total of 273 that Lymington had posted with wickets falling steadily. Opening bowler Gareth Berg (5-26 in 9 overs) proved the star bowler again for Lymington and soon had the scalp of Billy Blyghton (2). Fellow opener Lewis Martin (1-31) playing his last game for the club before returning to his native Australia had danger man Bothwell Chapungu (5) back in the pavilion. And Totton had sunk to 11-2. Harry Stephens (37) held the innings together for a while with a 44 run partnership with Brighton Mugochi (16) and 46 with Josh Elliott (28) Totton’s leading run scorer. But father and son Asad (2-27) and Monam (2-18) Abbas again bowling in tandem took middle order wickets as they proved difficult to get away. Once Stephens was out the Totton innings collapsed with seven wickets falling for just 34 runs with Berg playing a large role in removing the late order batsmen. This was before Monam Abbas finished off the innings having Josh Taylor caught and Lymington were home by 138 runs with 15 overs to spare.