PARLEY 130 (5) lost to DORCHESTER 131-7 (18) by three wickets

REIGNING champions Dorchester appear to be back in the groove and ready to put up a strong defence of their Dorset League Premier Division title following Saturday’s victory over high-flying Parley.

Many people were left questioning the strength of the county town outfit following three successive defeats at the start of the campaign but Martyn Richards’ men have clearly come up with the answers in the last nine days.

Following their first victory of the season over Stalbridge on May 23, Richards vowed his team were capable of putting a run of form together to get back in contention towards the top of the table and there was more evidence of that at the weekend.

Thanks to superb bowling from openers Dan Belt (2-22) and Rob Waite (4-28) the title-holders ripped through the Parley batting order, which in the end did well to reach three figures after struggling at one stage on 52-6.

That superb display was followed by a great opening stand of 63 between Dave Maslen (39) and Ian Sibley (17) before a bit of a wobble saw Parley, led by Sam Thomson (3-38), hit back with a flurry of wickets to reduce Dorchester to 79-4.

However, Dorset all-rounder Belt (33) then steadied the ship before Richards (21 not out) produced a captain’s innings to lead his side to another morale-boosting victory. The delighted skipper said: “The win against Stalbridge last week gave everyone a massive lift and it certainly feels like everything is getting back to normal now.

“We lost the toss but the boys did everything I could have asked of them.

“Rob Waite and Dan Belt both bowled superbly with the new ball and once we got their overseas’ players out, Roshan Embalagama and Raj Naik, we were confident of getting them out for a low score.

“We made life a little tougher than it should have been in knocking them off but it was a fantastic victory and now we just want to keep this run going.

“If we can win the next couple of games we can then look at the table at the halfway stage and weigh everything up then.

“But as everyone knows the only table that matters is the one at the end and if we can keep building the momentum of the last couple of weeks then there is no reason why we cannot be there or thereabouts once again.”

PARLEY

Jacques b Belt 4

Elliott c Waite b Belt 9

Embalagama c Richards b Waite 0

Naik c Tweddle b Waite 6

Thomson b Waite 9

Collins c Haynes b Dunham 11

Gunn c Tweddle b Herbert 17

Summerson c Sibley b Waite 17

Green not out 16

Kattak lbw Sibley 9

Blackley run out 6

Extras 26

Total (all out, 38.5 overs) 130

FoW: 1-4, 2-5, 3-22, 4-27, 5-32, 6-52, 7-83, 8-102, 9-118

Bowling: Belt 9.5-3-22-2, Waite 10-1-28-4, Herbert 10-1-34-1, Dunham 6-0-24-1, Sibley 3-0-19-0

DORCHESTER

Maslen run out 39

Sibley c Jacques b Thomson 17

Haynes c&b Summerson 2

Tweddle c Embalagama b Thomson 7

Belt c Elliott b Naik 33

Rendell c Green b Thomson 0

Waite c Embalagama b Elliott 2

Richards not out 21

Herbert not out 0

Extras 10

Total (for 7 wkts, 32.3 overs) 131

FoW: 1-63, 2-65, 3-65, 4-79, 5-95, 6-107, 7-126

Bowling: Blackley 3-0-23-0, Kattak 4-1-10-0, Embalagama 4-1-20-0, Thomson 10-2-38-3, Summerson 6-2-19-1, Elliott 2-0-9-1