Cricket

BEAMINSTER 170 (10) lost to MARNHULL 198 (20) by 28 runs

BEN FREKE'S unbeaten 63 was not enough to give Beaminster the winning start to the season they so desired.

Chasing Marnhull's 198 the home side looked comfortable early on but wickets fell regularly to leave Freke stranded and Beaminster 28 runs short.

Skipper Ian Hutchings was not too downhearted though as his side did pick up a good 10 points from the defeat.

"It's just a bit disappointing because it was a batting track," he said.

"To have kept them to under 200 was important and I thought we could get them.

"The track was fine, the outfield was wet but it was the same for both sides.

"It was just one of those days.

"We let them have too many runs and then limped to 170.

"After seven overs we were 38-1 and cruising.

"But we got 10 points out of it and that's the all-important bit."

Hutchings won the toss and quickly inserted his opposition to make best use of the damp conditions at the Memorial Field.

Two wickets for Simon Jones reduced Marnhull to 22-2 but the home side failed to make their advantage count.

Marnhull reached 173 for the loss of only four wickets but then slumped to 198 all out as Julian Davies made short work of their bottom order.

Davies finished with figures of 4-21 and secured maximum batting points for his team with three wickets in the last over of the innings.

After the break Beaminster's chase suffered an early blow when they lost the influential Richard Bugler for a duck.

However with Hutchings and Freke at the crease the home side soon got back on track until, with the score on 45, Hutchings was dismissed.

From then on Beaminster never recovered as only Nick David offered any meaningful support to Freke.