Halson Hundred Not Enough for Academy

Match Report: Hampshire Academy v Lymington SEPL 2012

Hampshire Academy v Lymington
Southern Electric Premier League
Saturday 28 July 2012
The Ageas Bowl (Nursery Ground)

Summary: Lymington beat the Academy by six wickets
Hampshire Academy: 249
Lymington: 250-4

James Halson celebrated his maiden Hampshire Academy century – only to be upstaged by a hundred by one-time county Second XI batsman Glynn Treagus as Lymington registered a six-wicket ECB Southern Electric Premier League win on the Ageas Bowl Nursery Ground.

The 17-year old Reading Blue Coat school sixth former, whose previous best Academy score was 55, held the Young Royals batting together, hitting two sixes and ten fours in a splendid 109.

But he didn’t receive any great support from his team-mates as the Academy, from a promising 51-0, tumbled to 101-6 against spin before rallying to post a more competitive 249 all out.

Openers Wilf Marriott (31) and left-hander Oli Green (18) gave the Young Royals a bright start, but departed within one run of each other.

Then Dorset left-arm spinner Darren Cowley, who finished with 6-64, sparked a collapse when he trapped Rob Gibson (19) leg before.

The Academy shuddered and lost four wickets – three of them to Cowley - for only 18 runs as Treagus (3-108) operated in tandem with the slow left-armer.

Halson watched helplessly from the non-striker’s end as the Academy middle-order subsided but found allies, initially in Matt King (30), then Tom Barber (16), as he carefully guided the total on to 249.

On some grounds a 250-run target would prove a challenge; on the slightly-more batsman-friendly Ageas Bowl Nursery Ground that is frequently not the case.

Lymington soon had runs on the board, with Treagus and Ali Jaffer (24) quick to seize on anything loose in their 60-run launch.

Jaffer fell to Gibson’s leg spin, but his departure was the Academy’s solitary joy for a long period as Treagus and Cameron Grierson (30) added almost 100 for the second wicket.

Treagus, who spent a short period on the Hampshire staff at Northlands Road after leaving King Edward VI School, breached the boundary rope on 20 occasions as he chalked up his first Premier League century since 2007, when he made 134 against Hursley Park, ironically for Lymington’s arch rivals, Bashley (Rydal).

As the 37-year old former Dorset all-rounder reflected on a quirky day in which he conceded 108 runs with the ball and then ‘cleared the deficit’ by scoring 112 runs with the bat, Lymington marched on to victory.

At times, the Academy did manage to squeeze the scoring rate but some crisp runs from teenager Felix Ambrose (19) preceded aggressive hitting from Damian Shirazi (29) and Cowley (29) carried the visitors to a comfortable result.

Words & Images: Mike Vimpany

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