A CHANGE of captain failed to throw New Milton off course as they maintained their winning start to the Southern Premier League season with victory over Liphook & Ripsley.

A five-wicket Division One success provided James Park with the perfect start to his temporary tenure as skipper in the absence of Ryan Beck, who had been ruled out of a first-team game for the first time in 12 years due to a broken finger.

The Green and Golds dismissed their visitors for just 112 at Fernhill Sports Ground with Dan Loader (3-23), George Watts (2- 9) and Nick Elliott (3-20) in fine form.

Chasing 112, New Milton struggled under pressure from Sean Burton, who ended with superb figures of four for 14, and the match appeared set for a close finish after the home side had been reduced to 43 for five.

However, Nick Park’s unbeaten 28 in tandem with Lee Beck (27*) saw the hosts grasp victory with 11 overs to spare.

Stand-in skipper James Park said: “It was a good win and especially on a personal level as it was my first game as captain.

“To bowl them out of 112 was a great effort. It’s important to take wickets with the new ball and we continued that aspect of our play from the first two games.

“Dan Loader did well in taking three wickets and they struggled to deal with George Watts – he is the best young bowler in the league as far as I can see.

“Nick Elliott had his first long spell of the season and all of the bowlers did a good job for us.”

Although New Milton had appeared in a spot of bother at 43 for five, stand-in skipper Park admitted he had been fully confident his team would pull through.

He added: “A five-wicket win is usually quite comfortable but you might not have thought that if you had been watching us!

“When we were 43 for five, it looked like it might be difficult.

But all 11 of our lads can bat so even at that stage I had full confidence in the boys. We have got a lot of experience in there and that always helps.

“The lads put on 70 and did the job so that was pretty pleasing.

“It was a shame we dropped some points but the win was the most important thing.

“It has been a good start to the league season for us off the back of last year when we ended up disappointed.

We are there or thereabouts so we will see how the rest of the year goes.”

New Milton are currently second in the table and are one of three teams in Division One who have won all three of their league games in 2015.

Hook & Newnham Basics and Basingstoke & North Hants have also got 100 per cent winning records.