NEW Milton skipper Ryan Beck said his team's "enormous heart" had helped them to a stunning 138-run mauling of Southern Premier League high-fliers Bashley.

Overseas star David Wakefield shared a pivotal 119-run fourth-wicket stand with James Haggaty to help Beck's side post a daunting 228 from 64 overs.

The captain then claimed his first five-wicket haul of the season as Bashley crumbled to 90 all out to succumb to a crushing loss – seven days after they had conquered South Wilts to hit the top of the table.

New Milton, by contrast, went into the game off the back of three defeats on the bounce, having started the season with successive victories.

Beck told the Daily Echo: "It was an absolutely massive win for the club and showed what enormous heart we have.

"We are thrilled. We are supposed to be one of the league's whipping boys but we dominated the team that was top of the division.

"I have to pay tribute to David Wakefield, he has been absolutely outstanding as a batsman and a club man for us. Him and James Haggaty batted absolutely superbly."

The only downer for Wakefield was that he fell to Simon Ridley (4-49) when he was just one run short of his century.

Nevertheless, Beck insisted his Kiwi opener was not interested in personal glory. And the skipper was similarly modest about his own spell of five for 34, which included the key wickets of Aussie Patrick Page (17) and Bashley captain Michael Porter for seven.

"I don’t think Bashley are used to batting on anything other than a road and I don’t think they adapted," said Beck.

"David came in and said he didn't care at all about the hundred. All he was bothered about was the fact we won the game. I bowled alright, I’ve got a 100 (against Hampshire Academy) and a five-for this season, so that’s not bad.

"We always felt we had enough runs, nobody has chased more than 210 to win here so we were happy to pass 200.

"I know they were missing a few players but it was a fantastic win for us."

Porter agreed with his opposite number's assessment. He admitted his batsmen had failed to show the necessary flexibility to succeed in alien conditions and could have taken a leaf out of Wakefield and Haggaty's unhurried approach.

Wakefield's 99 came of 182 balls, while Haggaty's knock lasted 94 deliveries.

Porter said: "We are so lucky with our pitches at home, they are really flat. When we go to places where it does more for the bowlers we do not adapt well enough and that is why we lost.

"David and Haggs are two very good players. David probably showed us how we needed to bat on that pitch, he really gritted it out.

"But none of us really applied ourselves. It was a tough pitch but those two batsmen showed us that if we had stuck at it we could have scored runs on it."

Bashley were swiftly reduced to five for two in their reply before Page, Porter and Tom Jacques all went for the addition of only five runs to leave the visitors on the brink at 38 for five.

"It is tough to fight back on a bowler-friendly pitch when you lose three quick wickets like we did," added Porter.

"We were always on the back foot. Credit to them, though, they bowled it in the right areas and made it very tough for us.

"The players we brought in were still top quality and with the team we had we should have won.

"But the fact we bowled one or two bad balls an over killed us and, on the day, they were the better team. We were well beaten but we cannot let that derail our season. We have to forget it."

Lymington expertly chased down 241 to record a five-wicket victory at bottom club Andover and replace Bashley in the Premier Division's top spot. Matt Metcalfe claimed three for 40 as the home team compiled 240 in just under 58 overs, Sri Lankan Chamika Karunaratne playing his team's star hand with 57.

Ryan Scott led the way with an unbeaten 73 and Malcolm Lake (65) and Ben Rogers (62) also weighed in with significant contributions, as Lymington made light work of their target to earn a third win in three weeks.

Bournemouth were knocked off the Division One summit after a six-wicket loss at Basingstoke & North Hants.

Simon Woodruff, returning from a one-match ban, top scored for the Lions with a breezy 61. But skipper Chris Park (33) was the only other batsman to pass 19 and, after looking fairly well set on 157 for four, the visitors lost six wickets for 17 runs to fold to 174 all out.

Basingstoke were wobbling on 42 for three early in their pursuit of Bournemouth's below-par score but that was merely the cue for former Hampshire pair Mitch Stokes and David Griffiths to step up to the plate.

The duo had gone wicketless from a combined 14 overs in the Lions' dig but they came to the party with a 77-run fourth-wicket partnership.

Spinner Rob Pack trapped Griffiths for 28 but there was no stopping Stokes, who finished undefeated on 89 following an explosive 75-ball innings which featured 12 fours and one towering six.