Witchampton beat Portland Red Triangle by five wickets

PORTLAND Red Triangle were chased down as Witchampton’s batters made light work of a tricky total to win by five wickets in County Division One.

Portland made 216-6 in testing conditions, Matt Randell leading the line with a refined and patient century to anchor the innings.

However, Witchampton also paced their reply well, two players scoring half-centuries to get them home with 11 balls remaining.

Triangle skipper Randell won the toss, chose to bat and found himself having to play a pivotal role in setting a good total.

READ MORE: Portland Red Triangle lose to Poole Seconds by 114 runs

The Witches removed openers Ray Emery (2) and Matt Barrett (19) without major alarm but found their next wicket hard to come by.

Dave Adkins (20) and Randell worked well together to put on 55, until the former offered a catch off the miserly Sean Leadbetter (1-12 off nine overs).

George Munro (1) was castled by young spinner Josh Harrison (1-27) soon afterwards, bringing the evergreen Simon Barrett to the crease.

He proved the perfect foil for Randell as the duo piled on 103 for the fifth wicket.

Barrett (33) even launched an enormous six, while Randell carefully selected which balls to attack.

His 101 came from 104 balls, including five sixes and nine fours, giving him a 15th Dorset League ton for Triangle.

The duo fell in quick succession late on, but still managed to set Witchampton 217 for victory.

Coming at a smidge under five an over, Witchampton needed to gauge their hunt well.

Leon Adkins (1-25) got the breakthrough for Portland, dismissing opener Martin Ashford (15).

However, the major partnership of the entire match then moved Witchampton to a winning position.

Sam Plater (62) and Leadbetter (61) shared 120 for the second wicket, blunting Triangle’s attack as they coasted to half-centuries.

Commendably, Triangle did fight back late in the innings, Jack Marsh (2-55) claiming Plater and Huw Fraser (8) after an expensive day.

James Potts (1-29) and Joel Davey (1-39) also weighed in to gain extra bowling points for Portland, but Gavin Wayman (13no) eased Witchampton over the line.

Speaking to Echosport, Randell said: “It was a good game and lots more positives to take this week than some of the others.

“We showed more fight and character, although we didn’t get the result we wanted, we made them work harder for the result.”

On his own knock, Randell added: “It was nice, different to how I usually go about constructing an innings.

“I just felt it was important to hold that middle order together and on that pitch it was important to get yourself in.”

Portland next host rivals Weymouth on Saturday (1pm).

Elsewhere, Triangle’s seconds lost by seven wickets to Rolex in Division Five.