Cerne Valley beat Bere Regis Seconds by 57 runs

CERNE Valley remain undefeated in County Division Three after a hard-fought 57-run victory against Bere Regis Seconds at the Simsay Oval. 

After losing the toss for the second consecutive week, Cerne were asked to bat on a wicket that looked promising for the batters.

Tom Atkinson and Russ Hurford opened the batting, with the in-form John Stiles missing from action.

Bere got an early breakthrough when Atkinson (3) hit a loose shot off of Cian Evans's bowling (2-27).

READ MORE: Cerne Valley churn out win number four

At 23-1, Cerne were on the backfoot but the ship was steadied when George Chubb came to the crease. A 62-run partnership was created between Chubb and Hurford, with more runs being added through the wides column, which ended up at 38 by the end of the innings.

Hurford (29) then perished off Evans' bowling to leave Cerne at 85-2.

The middle overs of Cerne's innings were slightly less bountiful than the start and the end, with a significant bowling contribution from Garry King (1-26) who bowled a tight line and length.

King snared his only wicket when he had Cerne captain Lloyd Mitchem (15) caught at mid-wicket after a good catch.

George Chubb was rotating the strike well and he combined with new batter Craig Kellaway, pushing quick singles, which increased the pressure on the Bere fielders.

But Bere struck again when Kellaway (16) played a loose shot which brought Joe Message to the crease.

In only his first game of the season, he combined superbly with Chubb and put on another 70 runs, pushing the run rate dramatically up.

With 220 runs on the board, Bere snatched their last wicket in Chubb (68), who was at this point looking to clear the boundary and set Bere an unreachable target.

The returning Pearce Mercer (10no) came to the crease in the last over and hit a quickfire four and six.

He left the field with Message (44no), happy in the fact that they helped Cerne to 230-5.

After a delectable tea, a rare occurrence since the lockdown era, Cerne aimed to gain as many bowling points as possible.

Mercer (1-15) provided the pace bowling that Cerne had been missing and he removed Bere opener Paul Smith (3) with a beautiful ball that uprooted his middle stump.

From there, Roger Edmunds showed amazing control and guile to knock over four out of Bere's six top order. His figures of 4-27 off eight overs turned the game massively in favour of Cerne.

Bere's valiant response came in the form of their captain King, who came in with a positive intent, hitting multiple sixes and fours.

Having survived a few scares, King took his score to 78 runs off 56 balls until he was bowled by Mitchem (4-31).

Bere's last four batters fell for just 26 runs and despite a strong end to the innings, Bere Regis fell short by 57 runs. 

Mitchem told Echosport: "We set them a really competitive total and it was nice to see everyone chip in with some runs.

"Then bowling wise, we did what we had to do. At one stage it did look a bit ominous, and maybe in Division Two we might have suffered more, but we didn't give up and, in the end, deserved the victory.

"This win keeps the momentum going and shows everyone in the league that we are there for the long haul.

"Out in the field, I was saying to the players about effort and they cannot be faulted so far this season in this regard.

"We are working really hard and reaping the benefits. With player availability looking slightly better as the season goes on, we are in a good position."

Later on today (1.30pm), Cerne Valley travel to Abbotsbury looking to maintain their undefeated status.

Cerne: Mitchem, Stiles, Hurford, Collinge, Portch, Reeves, Edmunds, Kellaway, Message, Atkinson, Mercer.