RYAN Beck is poised to miss a New Milton first-team game for the first time in 12 years after admitting he could no longer battle through the pain barrier.

The Green and Golds skipper broke the little finger on his right hand in the Royal London National Club Championship loss to Ventnor at the end of last month.

Cruelly, wicketkeeper Beck suffered the injury on the final ball of the Ventnor innings and has struggled in both of New Milton’s Southern League outings since.

The captain has elected to step aside for tomorrow’s fixture against Liphook & Ripsley at Fernhill Sports Ground (1pm), instead choosing to feature for the second string at Portsmouth & Southsea.

Coincidentally, the only other competitive first-team game that Beck has missed was against Portsmouth & Southsea in 2003.

He told the Daily Echo: “My little finger hasn’t really healed and I have struggled massively since I broke it.

“It feels alright during the week, it’s just when I use it to keep wicket that it becomes a problem.

“Captain or not captain, if you’re not fit you cannot be accommodated.

“I’ve been keeping wicket for the past couple of weeks but I certainly couldn’t do that on Saturday.

If I picked myself, it would just mean that I would be leaving someone out that deserved to be in the team.

“I do selection on a Tuesday and prior to that I spoke to a couple of players who I was thinking about leaving out. They both had very good arguments as to why they should play.

“I couldn’t justify keeping an injured player in when I had two players who deserved a place.”

In Beck’s absence, Ben Lawes is set to keep wicket while Mark House will come into the team.

James Park, who is due to take over from Beck as captain for next year’s campaign, will get a taster of his future role when he becomes temporary skipper.

Beck added: “It will be very strange for me to miss out as I’ve only missed two first-team games in my whole career.

“Hopefully, the injury will not take long to heal but if the team is doing well and I’m not required then so be it.

“It will be good for Parky to have a few games as captain so that he can to get used to it.”

New Milton, who led the Southern League Division One standings for all but the last week of the 2014 season before being pipped by Sarisbury, have had a strong start to this campaign.

Beck’s troops have recorded victories over Calmore Sports and Hartley Wintney in the league.

NEW MILTON: J Park, N Park, L Beck, Loader, Elliott, Gargaro, Haggaty, Lawes, Edwards, Watts, House.