Cerne Valley beat Broadstone Seconds by 17 runs

CERNE Valley remain undefeated in County Division Three after a hard-fought win at Delph Woods against Broadstone Seconds.

Cerne sit second by two points behind leaders Cattistock and Symene Seconds.

After losing the toss, Cerne were invited to bat and the in-form John Stiles (4) was trapped lbw by the disciplined line of Henry Ostling (1-40) early on.

Valley skipper Lloyd Mitchem combined with opener Russ Hurford for a partnership of 85 runs and despite a few drops from the Broadstone fielders, Hurford (40) was good value for his runs until he edged behind off Tilly Churchill (1-39).

READ MORE: Cerne Valley beat Kingston Lacy by nine wickets

New bat Craig Kellaway playing off his legs with ease after a slow start and rotated the strike well allowing Mitchem (50) to chalk up a half-century.

However, Mitchem was bowled amid suspicions of a no-ball and Kellaway (18) soon followed after chipping a ball to the fielders, Ben Phillips (2-34) claiming both wickets.

At 155-4, Simon Reeves and Sam Downey then accelerated.

New recruit Reeves (20no) played sensible cricket and allowed the returning Downey (73no) to punish the Broadstone bowlers with some brilliant attacking shots.

His 73 runs from 46 balls, including eight fours and three sixes, pushed Cerne’s total to a par score of 246-4 at the small confines of the Delph.

Broadstone forged an attacking 50 partnership in the first five overs of their reply with Richard Poole and Broadstone captain Gary Smith comfortable on the backfoot.

It took an lbw decision against Poole (20) off the bowling of Mitchem (1-47) to break the deadlock.

The score raced onto 93 runs when the crucial wicket of Gary Smith (63) was taken, beautifully bowled by spinner Mike Collinge (2-31).

Broadstone found it hard to build solid partnerships and the wickets began to flow more easily for Cerne.

Only two out of the next seven batters passed 20, largely down to the accurate bowling of young spinner George Wilkes (0-36), who was bowling with Broadstone’s short boundary on the leg side, as well as Reeves (2-32), who bowled a good line and length at a crucial time towards the end of the innings.

Alex Warren (28), Daniel Smith (25) and Abe Churchill (22) all contributed late runs but Cerne just had enough in hand to see out the win.

Mitchem told Echosport: “We knew we were more than capable of putting a big total on the board.

“When John got out early, we didn’t panic and we had two big partnerships that were 80 runs and more.

“To hit 246 was a really good team effort, which was helped enormously by the batting of Sam, in his first game of the season.

“Then, out in the field, we were on the backfoot to begin with as their openers came out and really attacked us but when we got both of them out for just shy of 100 runs, their young side struggled in the middle overs to score heavily enough.

“Credit must go to our bowlers as bowling at Broadstone is never easy due to the ground dimensions.

“For Broadstone to finish 17 runs behind us showed real resilience from them and at various points, had us thinking about how we were going to stem the run rate.

“To get the win is fantastic and to win four in a row is a dream start.”

Cerne host Bere Regis Seconds today (1.30pm), weather permitting.