PORTLAND RT 134 (7) lost to PIMPERNE 135-8 (19) by two wickets

AN under-strength Portland Red Triangle side came unstuck at Pimperne in their Dorset Funeral Plan Division Three clash.

After losing the toss Portland were asked to bat first, as the hosts looked to make full use of the new ball.

With captain Martin Hewson (14) the only one of Portland's top order showing any resistance to the early pace of McCann (2-37) and Sullivan (4-42), the Portlanders limped along to 45-5 after 15 overs.

Once the hardness of the new ball had worn off the islanders started to rally with Jon Dixon (14) and Sammi Rathanayke (40) scoring more freely.

Rathanayke also received sterling support from Daniel Strong (14) but once the former was dismissed the scoring slowed dramatically and only a last-wicket stand of 13 between Strong and young Oliver Whisker enabled Portland's innings to close on a modest 134 all out.

The hosts, in confident mood after a successful run chase against Bere Regis seven days previous, began their reply.

The openers seemed to be coping with the pace of Ratha-nayke but appeared unable to play the spin bowling of the experienced Dixon, and it was indeed Dixon who made the first breakthrough when Griffiths (4) was caught by Davey.

It was at this point that captain Hewson introduced himself into the attack at the expense of Rathanayke, and the decision paid immediate dividends with Sullivan holing out to Marco Nott.

In Hewson's next over the same combination accounted for Shepherd and once Dixon had Woodruff (25) caught the home side were reeling at 44-4.

But Pitman (11) and Lang-down (34) staged a recovery to add 40 to the score without loss. Langdown though, survived a very strong lbw shout off Hewson to leave the islanders dumfounded.

The reintroduction of the visitors' pace attack then started to pay off with Rathanayke accounting for three of the hosts' batsmen and Sam Polley dismissing another.

The home side, in the end, were indebted to Langdown and A Sullivan (20) who managed to see Pimperne over the finishing line.

Red Triangle skipper Hewson said: "The toss was very important and I think that a new hard ball on the pitch made a huge difference.

"But having said that the whole team should be proud of their efforts in the field as all of the catches taken were extremely good, so good that I cannot remember a better fielding performance from a Triangle team.

"Again it was our batting that let us down, we were only a few runs short of what would have been a winning total. But we will take the positives out of the performance and try to work hard on the batting side of things for next week's game."

Priory Field Scoreboard PORTLAND RT

A Smart b Sullivan 5

J Davey c Griffiths bSullivan 4

M Hewson b McCann 14

S Barrett lbw McCann 5

J Dixon c King b Woodruff 14

M Nott b Woodruff 1

S Ratanayke c Giffiths b Sullivan 40

G Neven c Griffiths b Sullivan 1

D Strong c&b King 14

S Polley c Woodruff b King 1

O Whisker not out 1

Extras 34

Total (all out, 43.2 overs) 134

Bowling: McCann 12-1-32-2, Sullivan 12-2-42-4, Woodruff 10-2-19-2, M King 9.2-1-19-2

PIMPERNE

S Griffiths c Davey b Dixon 4

N Woodruff c Polley b Dixon 25

J Sullivan c Nott b Hewson 9

M Shepard c Nott b Hewson 2

L Pitman b Rathanayke 11

K Langdown b Polley 34

G King c Davey b Rathanayke 0

D Griffiths b Rathanayke 12

A Sullivan not out 20

M King not out 1

Extras 17

Total (8 wkts, 37.5 overs) 135

Bowling: Rathanayke 11-2-32-3, Dixon 12-0-31-2, Hewson 6-0-33-2, Polley 6.5-1-24-1, Davey 2-0-14-0