STALBRIDGE 171-2 (19pts) beat PORTLAND RT 165-9 (5pts) by eight wickets

PORTLAND Red Triangle were given front-seat tickets to the Stuart Sweatman show as Stalbridge galloped to an eight-wicket win in County Division One.

Sweatman went wicketless in his first spell but his second lit the blue touch paper as he recorded figures of 4-18 to help restrict Portland to 165-9.

The hard-hitting all-rounder then battered 100 from 91 balls, bringing up his century with a six to win the game.

Stalbridge inflicted Portland’s fourth defeat in five games and now occupy fifth in the table, two points behind third-placed Swanage, having overtaken Portland in sixth.

Portland captain Matt Randell won the toss and chose to bat, finding experienced seamer Steve Forshaw (2-20) in good form.

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Forshaw bowled Ollie Whisker (0) and trapped Ryan Price (2) lbw before left-arm unorthodox spinner Andy Dike removed Randell (11) and Tim Forshaw (18), who injured his hamstring the ball previous.

However, a fine unbeaten knock of 67 off 76 balls by Matt Barrett, comprising nine fours, was well supported by Callan Laws (25) and Dave Adkins (18).

Sweatman then came back for his second spell and in bowling Adkins opened the floodgates as he also castled Jon Cameron (0), Rich Samuel (3) and Simon Barrett (1).

Matt Barrett and Paul Edwards (0) held on to deprive Stalbridge of full bowling points, setting a 166 target.

Sweatman was in no mood to hang about and pounced on any stray delivery, clattering 11 fours, although he was dropped several times by the Portland fielders.

He was responsible for most of the scoring even as Portland took two quick wickets to reduce the hosts to 59-2, Randell (1-35) and Cameron (1-36) accounting for Fergus Wingate-Saul (11) and Chris Hedges (0) respectively.

Sweatman compiled a brutal unbroken 112-run stand with James Lewis (46no), who himself smacked seven boundaries, before simultaneously winning the game and reaching three figures with a huge six.

Speaking to Echosport, Randell said: “We didn’t take on their change bowlers as much as we’d have liked after working hard to see off the openers.

“Batting-wise for Sweatman, we dropped him two or three times and we had a run out that was arguably close.

“If you don’t take your chances then you allow him to go on and do what he did, it’s more on us than anything else.”

Portland host winless Beaminster at Reforne on Saturday (1.30pm).