Dorchester SECONDS 284-8 (18pts) beat COMPTON HOUSE 192-7 (9pts) by 92 runs

STUART Beasley enjoyed a day to remember as he starred with both bat and ball in Dorchester Seconds’ 92-run defeat of Compton House.

The all-rounder racked up an impressive 91 runs, as the visitors posted a commanding total of 284-8 from their 45 overs, before snaring four wickets in the Compton reply, which totalled just 192-7.

Skipper Ian Sibley, who saw his side stop the rot of back-to-back defeats, paid tribute to his star pupil.

He said: “Stuart put in a man-of-the-match performance. He batted very well and hit eight sixes, and then took four wickets with ball.

“His contribution was the main one but it was also nice to see lots of other people contributing as well.

“It was good to score as many runs as we did and it was very pleasing to win off the back of two defeats.

“I don’t think they had a great deal in their bowling line-up and one lad went for 83 runs. If they had other options then I’m sure he would have been replaced.

“We bowled very tight at the start of their innings and went on from there – Compton House were never really in it to be honest.”

Despite going on to score their biggest total of the Dorset League Division Two campaign, Dorchester, who lost the toss, made a far from spectacular start at Compton Park as they were reduced to 21-2.

However, Hugh Pryce (30) and Dave Herbert (38) put on 70 for the third wicket before the former was removed by Robert Dunning (3-72).

The latter fell just one run later but his departure brought Beasley to the crease and he joined forces with captain Sibley (21) to see the visitors race to 172.

Sibley then became Dunning’s third victim of the afternoon but impressive contributions further down the order from Jon Legg (24) and Steve Budd (34no), as well as expensive bowling from the Compton attack, ensured the county town outfit set a formidable target.

House started well enough in reply with their top three batsmen eventually recording 127 runs between them – Nick Millard stealing the limelight with 81 of those.

However, tight spells from the likes of James Dunham (0-27), Legg (1-16) and Joe Power (0-35) pushed the run-rate up while Beasley claimed four wickets in succession to leave the hosts struggling at 118-5.

Compton House saw out their allotted overs but fell way short of troubling the marker laid down by Beasley and co.