HAMWORTHY REC 128-8 (17pts) beat WEYMOUTH 117 (11pts) by 11 runs

WEYMOUTH let slip a match-winning position as Hamworthy Rec came back to stun the Seasiders in a low-scoring County Division One contest.

Harry Mitchell’s men bowled superbly to restrict Hamworthy to 128-8 from 40 overs – one week after Rec plundered 309-3 against Compton House.

But a batting malfunction on a sticky wicket gave Weymouth too much to do as they fell agonisingly short of their target, albeit with losing bonus points.

Earlier, Mitchell won the toss and elected to field, seamer Graham Puckett (2-31) dismissing Jacob Berry and Sam Martin (0).

Lloyd Beals (2-19) punctuated Puckett’s wickets by removing Toby Berry, who had scored just two runs from 34 balls.

Opener Matt Avery was the main obstacle for Weymouth, who fluffed glorious chances to catch and then run the Hamworthy all-rounder out in consecutive overs.

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Avery (81) duly made the Seasiders pay as he crunched seven fours in his half-century before falling to Johnny Armfield (2-17).

Avery’s innings proved huge in the context of the match as Hamworthy eked their total to 128-8, Beals and Mitchell (1-18) claiming late wickets.

Weymouth’s reply never got going on an awkward surface as Tom England (1) was run out before Toby Berry (3-13) accounted for John Wilson (4) and Tim Guyett (4).

Dom Webb (15) smacked two sixes but Berry sent him back to the pavilion as Weymouth reached 37-4.

Kieron Womble (6), Armfield (7), Beals (2) and Jack Sapsworth (3) went cheaply as Weymouth’s middle order offered little resistance, Finlay Gordon returning 2-17.

However, from 62-8, Mitchell (28) and Shafeek Urumancheri (18) nearly took the visitors to victory.

The duo guided Weymouth to 107-8 – 22 runs from their target – until Urumancheri was bowled by Timothy Martin (2-25).

Mitchell carried on with last man Puckett (3no), only to be castled late on by Ryan Kelly (1-32) as Hamworthy won to retain second place.

Speaking to Echosport, Mitchell said: “The pitch deteriorated a lot, it was spinning from ball one (of the reply).

“In hindsight I should’ve batted first – I thought it was going to dry out more than it did.

“Our batting should’ve got over the line.

“We didn’t step up. As a batting unit, we left it to the person behind.

“If the top order rotated the strike it would’ve been more comfortable at the end, rather than chasing the game. It is what it is.”

On the first-innings display, Mitchell added: “As a bowling and fielding performance it was top drawer.

“Everyone contributed. The only negative was that we dropped one catch off (Avery) and then in the next over we missed a run out chance.

“If you take those 30, 40 runs away he got after, we would’ve won.”

Mitchell admitted Weymouth must improve on chasing down small targets.

“Small totals are our Achilles heel,” he said.

“Looking forward to the next time we get a low target it’s something we need as a team to get over the line in.

“We’ve struggled in the past with games like Shillingstone. We let ourselves down with the bat.”

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