21-05-2025
Swanage beaten by Poole in winner-takes-all T20
ON SATURDAY, Swanage's 1st XI travelled to face a very formidable Poole side in their final, 'winner-takes-all' T20 South Division Group Match.
Swanage elected to bat first and got-off to a positive start through Sid Nash against some hostile, seam bowling. Then, despite some useful contributions from Freddie Long, Steve Ramsay & Ethan Stacey - the visitors were finally dismissed in the last over for just 106.
In reply, despite the hosts losing 2 early wickets, they had no further alarms and cruised to an 8-wicket victory with 6 overs to spare.
From this weekend, Swanage continue their quest to join Poole in Premier Division 1 with a return to 50-over matches.
Also on Saturday, the 2nd XI played host to league newcomers Rolex - a Bournemouth-based side in Division 4.
The hosts batted first and got off to a solid start with a half-century opening partnership between Simon Goldsack & John Lewis. Although, when Goldsack was finally dismissed for a fluent 44 with the score on 87 he was the 4th quick wicket to fall leaving Swanage in a precarious position.
The innings was consolidated and, then, given some respectability by not only Mike Nash - who made 28, but also, some lower-order hitting by Dylan Church and Andrew Hancock to at least 'post' a total - which gave the bowler's something to bowl at 168-8 from their 40 overs.
In reply, the hosts were subjected to a display of brutal, destructive power-hitting by the visitors opening batsman - Suresh Manoharan.
He smashed an incredible 26 boundaries - which included a staggering 13 sixes (it was like watching the IPL). He finished undefeated on 139 from only 75 balls as the visitors recorded a convincing 8-wicket win in less than 20 overs.
