Puddletown beat Bere Regis by 46 runs

PUDDLETOWN remain in with a chance of escaping the Dorset Premier League drop after beating Bere Regis by 46 runs in a low-scoring clash at Plush.

Ahead of the final game, Adam Barrett’s men are bottom of the league by nine points with only the bottom side being relegated to County Division One.

Christchurch occupy ninth spot, with Cattistock & Symene four points further up the table in eighth.

It means all three teams are not mathematically safe, with a maximum of 20 points left to play for.

READ MORE: Puddletown lose to Poole Town by seven wickets

Going into the penultimate game, Puddletown were 20 points off Christchurch and needed to better their result to survive into the final weekend.

And they once more owe a great deal to Ollie Shrubsole, the opening batter hitting a calculated 75 in a total of 128 all out, following on from his century at Poole last week.

Shrubsole punished Bere for dropping him twice in single figures, while Ryan Norman and Lucas Allen (both 14) were the only other players to reach double digits as Sam Goodhew claimed 4-14.

In reply, James Morris (1-15) had Pete Russell caught for a golden duck before Norman steamed through the top order on his way to 5-28, including top-scorer Rich Cole (22).

With Barrett out nursing a finger injury, stand-in skipper Norman’s performance heaped pressure on the middle order and left-arm spinner Rob Snow capitalised with 3-29.

And Gordon Wint (1-6) then wrapped up the match, helping Puddletown dismiss Bere for 82 and sealing a 16-point win for the hosts.

Speaking to Echosport, Norman said: “It was good, we needed to dig in. The pitch was fine but we got ourselves out.

“Most of the wickets, all day, people got themselves out. You could look at it and think the pitch has been a Bunsen burner, but it wasn’t.

“We were 80-odd for eight and managed to get up to 128 which gave us something.

“We managed to get in to them and we had them 24-4 at tea, which is always a bonus in a low-scoring game if you can get into them early.

“We fielded really well and caught brilliantly, which is something we haven’t done in recent weeks. We held everything and bowled really well.”

On the survival mission, Norman added: “We can only win our games and see what happens, that’s the old cliché.

“There’s three of us in that position at the bottom but if we can win our game and stay up, brilliant. If not, then it’s not to be.”

Bere captain Brian Keegan was left to rue a poor day in two departments.

He said: “We dropped Ollie twice and when you look at their score, he scored 75 out of 128.

“No disrespect to anybody in our team, we collectively didn’t bat with any sort of application.

“We basically handed it on a plate to them. Ryan Norman bowled line and length and Rob Snow got the ball popping, but nothing that as a team we shouldn’t have been able to bat against.

“We didn’t show enough heart and the upshot is you lose by 46 runs. It just isn’t good enough.”

Puddletown Seconds had a bye weekend but Bere Regis Seconds beat Hamworthy Seconds by 31 runs in Division Three.