POOLE TOWN 237-5 (20pts) beat DORCHESTER 175 (6pts) by five wickets

DORCHESTER’S hopes of retaining the Dorset Premier League title took another battering at the Rec as Martin Ford led Poole Town to an impressive five-wicket victory.

Ford, who took 3-10 in his side’s opening day victory over Weymouth, was again in inspirational form with the ball as he ripped through the county town outfit’s middle order with a devastating spell which ended with figures of 4-10 off 10 overs.

That individual display contributed to Dorchester collapsing from 125-3 to 147-7, a position they never recovered from as they attempted to catch Poole’s first innings total of 237-5, which saw Kristian Wilson (63) and Dave Miller (58) score fine half centuries.

This latest setback for Dorchester comes after the previous week’s shock defeat at Wimborne & Colehill.

But skipper Martyn Richards is not panicking just yet and is confident his men will start firing on all cylinders again soon.

He said: “The boys were up for it but unfortunately we were not at our best with the ball.

“Dan Belt (1-22) and James Dunham (0-25) put in great performances but for all our endeavours we bowled too many bad balls and gave Poole 35 extras, which is unforgivable at any level.

“Dave Miller showed his class to take Poole to an impressive total, and while we were in a good position at 125-3 some good fortune followed by the brilliance of Martin Ford won the game for Poole.

“Martin started with a great performance last week and repeated it on Saturday, underlining his Minor Counties credentials and in his form, Poole must be the team to beat this season.

“We’re naturally disappointed to have lost to a team we expect to be up there with at the end of the season so I have asked the guys to think about the roles they perform individually, which contributes to a win for the team.

“All of them have committed to working hard this week in preparation for Saturday’s trip to Blandford, where we’ll be focused on putting in a display more characteristic of last year’s Dorchester.

“We know that once we get back to winning ways we’ll be the in-form team and can then make the most of post-match celebrations, which we enjoyed so much last year.”

Dorchester started the match well with Belt causing both Poole openers problems, which contributed to Ben Dyson edging through to Ian Sibley at third slip for an early home breakthrough.

After that runs and wickets proved hard to come by although Quenton Miller did force Dave Robjohns to play on to his stumps for just 17 to have Poole reeling a little on 47-2.

However, Wilson and Alam then put together a partnership of 107. Both survived missed chances before Alam was finally caught and bowled by Richards (2-40).

The hosts were clearly hoping that wicket would prove to be a turning point but instead it brought former Minor Counties star Miller to the crease. Richards eventually managed to bowl Wilson as he tried to push the scoring rate on but Miller stuck around and struck some glorious boundaries to help take Poole to an impressive score of 237.

In reply, Dorchester lost both openers cheaply, Ford claiming the scalp of Steve Gerety (3) caught behind and Lee Haynes (12) bowled by Jamie Thomas (1-27) after starting strongly with three impressive on drives for boundaries.

Paul Tweddle (57) and Belt (32) then put together a solid stand of 70 with both scoring freely before the leg spin of Fairless (2-37) saw Belt frustratingly caught by the wicketkeeper after top-edging a pull from a long hop. The same length delivery then brought about the wicket of Tweddle as he sent the ball back into the bowler’s hands but Dorchester had still crept into a decent position.

With little back-up bowling Thomas decided to turn to Ford to come back into the attack for his remaining two overs and he delivered the goods with his last six balls in which he claimed the wickets of Adam Rendell (19), Martyn Richards (0) and Ian Sibley (5) to effectively win his side the game.

In response, debutant Dave Herbert raised the pulses of spectators with a quick-fire 24, including three huge sixes off Andy Groome but unfortunately it was too little too late.

POOLE TOWN

B Dyson c Sibley b Belt 5

K Wilson b Richards 63

D Robjohns b Miller 17

B Alam c&b Richards 49

D Miller c Herbert b Miller 58

R Harrington not out 7

J Thomas not out 5

Total (5 wkts, 50 overs) 237

FoW: 1-7, 2-47, 3-154, 4-189, 5-231.

Bowling: D Belt 10-0-22-1, P Morley 10-2-52-0, Q Miller 7-1-50-2, S Gerety 10-1-43-0, J Dunham 6-0-25-0, M Richards 7-0-40-2.

DORCHESTER

L Haynes b Thomas 12

S Gerety c Eades b Ford 3

P Tweddle c&b Fairless 57

D Belt c Eades b Fairless 32

A Rendell c Eades b Ford 19

I Sibley b Ford 6

M Richards b Ford 0

Q Miller c Wilson b Alam 6

D Herbert st Eades b Groome 24

P Morley not out 1

J Dunham run out 0

Total (all out, 43.2 overs) 175

FoW: 1-21, 2-21, 3-91, 4-125, 5-143, 6-143, 7-144, 8-174, 9-174.

Bowling: M Ford 10-4-10-4, J Thomas 7-1-27-1, K Wilson 10-0-53-0, J Fairless 10-0-37-2, B Alam 4.2-0-16-1, A Groome 2-0-24-1.