New Milton under 15’s narrowly defeated a strong Calmore team on Friday evening to move into the third round of the national cup competition.

Batting first in tough early season conditions we managed to set a reasonable target of 98-4 in our 20 overs, which was mainly built around a superb 40 (retired) from Sam Giles and solid contributions from Lihan (14), Fin Evans (14) and Harry Beck (11).

Calmore started well in their chase and were 30-0 off 5 overs before Sam Giles brilliantly ran out the dangerous looking Karimi (12). We then turned to spin and although we didn't take many wickets, we really stemmed the flow of runs - George Beck, fresh from his cruise around the Solent, bowled with great control (4 overs, 0-9) which was matched by skipper and fellow leg spinner Alfie Oxford (4 overs, 2-20).

With the run rate creeping up, Calmore needed to play some bigger shots and when Brady retired on his 40, and Hibberd (13) was caught by Fin Evans off the bowling of Fin Lewis ( 3 overs 1- 15) it brought new batsmen to the crease at a crucial time. Xander brilliantly caught Mohammed off Alfie and Sam stumped Braggs the very next ball.

This all boiled down to Calmore needing 6 runs to win from the final over. Harry Beck (4 overs 0-12) bowled it with his normal accuracy and they could only manage 2 runs meaning New Milton won the game by 3 runs.

Thoroughly impressive all round team performance and we move into the next round. Next up Calmore again on Sunday (league!).