LYMINGTON skipper Simon Beetham paid tribute to his players’ powers of recovery after they had gone from zeroes to heroes in less than 24 hours.

Beetham admitted his troops had been left crestfallen following a crushing 106-run defeat by holders South Wilts in the final of the Southern Electric t20 Cup on Friday.

But after licking their wounds from the Ageas Bowl mauling, Lymington bounced back to record a stunning six-wicket win over the reigning Premier Division champions.

Victory – spearheaded by Australian under-19 international Damien Mortimer – saw South Wilts toppled from the summit and propelled Lymington into fifth place with two games remaining.

Beetham, a former South Wilts player, told the Daily Echo: “We had mixed fortunes and mixed feelings in the two games. Everyone was gutted to lose the final, especially as we were given a real hiding.

“We knew we had a second dig at them straight away and had to forget about it and start afresh. We showed we were not as bad as the t20 result may have suggested.

“We are a much better side and it just didn’t happen for us in the final.

South Wilts are a very strong team and it was very satisfying to set the record straight.

“We bowled well to keep them down to 188 on what we thought was a 240-wicket. We kept calm in the reply, Damien batted really well and we chased it pretty comfortably.”

Despite making a promising start, South Wilts folded from 135-4 (Tom Morton 36) to 188 and lost their final three wickets without scoring (Matt Metcalfe 2-35, Ed Freeman 2-37, Mortimer 3-17).

Zimbabwean Ryan Burl (42), playing his final match of the season, watched wickets fall around him as South Wilts’ treble title dreams took a severe knock.

New South Walian Mortimer, the only Lymington player to emerge from the t20 final with any credit, led the reply with a classy ton and remained undefeated at the close.

The 19-year-old hit 16 fours on his way to making a 138-ball 112, dominating a second-wicket stand of 74 with Ryan Scott (22) to lay the foundations for Lymington’s third league win in succession at 192-4 (Felix Ambrose 24*).

Next Saturday Lymington visit table-topping Havant, beginning at 12.30pm.