HAMWORTHY RECREATION 241-9 (19pts) beat BRIDPORT 220-9 (12pts) by 21 runs BRIDPORT began the season with a narrow defeat to Hamworthy Recreation in Dorset Funeral Plan Division Two but captain Chris Backhouse failed to get disheartened.

The hosts collected 12 points despite the absence of several key personnel, and Backhouse saw enough to suggest that this result was only a blip in his long-term strategy of pushing for an immediate return to Division One.

He said: "We did ourselves proud to get that close and we could have won the game.

"Our fielding was poor and we dropped a few catches but for the opening match I thought we played pretty well.

"Almost everyone contributed with the bat and we just need to cut out the fielding errors and get some match sharpness back."

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Hamworthy racked up 241 in their allotted 45 overs, with opener Steve Clark (52) and Sean Leadbetter (60) the major run scorers.

Dave Herbert took a couple of late wickets in his impressive analysis of 3-39 to restrict the visitors, but nevertheless Hamworthy were confident of defending their total.

Bridport lost two quick wickets at the start of their reply and fell behind the original asking rate of 5.47 runs per over, but Fred Everitt (28) and captain Backhouse (30) steadied the innings to provide some hope chasing down the target.

However, after both batsmen fell in quick succession, the hosts lost their impetus and only Sam Challis provided resistance with an unbeaten 36, as young swing bowler Avery ripped through the lower order to claim 5-38.

Backhouse added: "I'm obviously disappointed to lose but there were some stand-out performances, especially Fred Everitt who was our man of the match.

"I was also impressed with David Backhouse and Wes Lewis, and hopefully we'll be back to full strength on Saturday and can record a victory."

BREWERY FIELDS SCOREBOARD

HAMWORTHY RECREATION

Platt lbw Sherring 17

Clark lbw D Backhouse 52

Leadbetter c Good b Lewis 60

Jenkins lbw C Backhouse 6

Peters c Everitt b Lewis 26

Avery b Herbert 0

Pritchard b Herbert 36

Tomlinson c Everitt b C Backhouse 9

Willis not out 0

Fisher b Herbert 0

Dean not out 0

Extras 35

Total (9 wkts, 45 overs) 241

FoW: 1-58, 2-99, 3-116, 7-178, 5-193, 6-206, 7-233, 8-241, 9-241

Bowling: Bloxham 5-0-43-0, Sherring 8-0-32-1, D Backhouse 12-2-44-1, C Backhouse 9-1-47-2, Herbert 7-1-39-3, Lewis 4-0-28-2

BRIDPORT

Herbert c Fisher b Tomlinson 11

M Smith lbw Avery 0

Good b Avery 19

Everitt c Peters b Fisher 28

C Backhouse b Willis 30

Lewis b Avery 0

Bloxham lbw Dean 4

Challis not out 36

Sherring b Avery 8

D Backhouse c Peters b Avery 2

Lewis not out 9

Extras 61

Total (9 wkts, 45 overs) 220

FoW: 1-8, 2-32, 3-58, 4-114, 5-119, 6-133, 7-137, 8-160, 9-186

Bowling: Avery 12-3-38-5, Dean 4-2-5-1, Fisher 12-1-45-1, Tomlinson 8-0-37-1, Willis 6-1-30-1, Jenkins 2-0-22-0, Leadbetter 1-0-16-0