Portland Red Triangle beat Weymouth by two wickets

PORTLAND Red Triangle snapped a four-match losing streak with a two-wicket home win over rivals Weymouth in round seven of the County Division One competition.

Portland stuttered at times in their chase of 155, but disciplined innings from Joe Adkins (32) and Jack Marsh (13no) saw them pass Weymouth’s total with 13.5 overs to spare.

Earlier in the day, Connor Wills kept the visitors in the match with a gutsy 61 from 79 balls. Wills walked to the wicket with the score at 40-4, which then became 48-5 and then 58-6 when debutant Mohammad Taqwa Kazimi took his third wicket just before drinks.

READ MORE: Witchampton beat Portland Red Triangle by five wickets

Cube Whyte (20) helped rebuild after the break, hitting two fours and a six before Kazimi (4-40) claimed his wicket with the score at 96-7. Shafeek Urumancheri joined Wills, who looked to up the scoring rate and did so, getting the Seasiders beyond three figures.

The reintroduction of opening quick Proffitt saw Wills depart, and despite Marsh (1-18) striking in the following over Urumancheri and Jackson Jose put on 15 vital runs for the last wicket, before Proffitt (3-42) bowled Urumancheri (12) with a yorker.

Weymouth’s 154 looked to be a decent score, especially if they could match Portland’s ability to strike with the new ball. The Seasiders had been 17-2 in the eighth over of their innings, with Proffitt and Adkins (1-12) proving hard to handle in cold and windy conditions.

Weymouth were unable to replicate this however, dropping three chances in the field.

Neil Walton was summoned earlier than usual and struck in the fifth over to halt Portland’s fast start at 32-1. Walton (2-39) also took the wicket of Dave Adkins (23) in his first spell, then a double strike from Urumancheri saw the score turn on its head from 60-1 to 60-4. 

This group of wickets included debutant and big-hitter Shahfaisan Qtmanzai, whose cameo of 14 included a cracking six over mid-off.

Matthew Randell and main man Proffitt then came together, with the pair counterattacking immediately and looking to hit boundaries. Urumancheri (3-40) was the target as the two looked to sweep, but he had the last laugh when he ended their 40-run partnership by bowling Randell (14) around his legs.

Whyte then took out George Munro and the big scalp of Proffitt (32) to test the depth of Portland’s batting order.

Adkins and Marsh proved to be up to the challenge, and despite Whyte (3-22) picking up Adkins with the scores level the home side had done enough, winning the match by two wickets to get their season back on track.

“It’s certainly good to break that losing streak. I know me and Lloyd both downplayed it before the game but you do want to win those rivalry games,” Triangle skipper Randell told Echosport.

“It was good to get the win and it was just a good game of cricket as well, nice to come out on top for the first time in a while.

“It just felt like we had that consistency back and that comes from bringing in a few of the older players, with some experience.

“Then, some resilience with the bat. We could’ve easily folded. Jack held his nerve, Joe held his nerve. I think Joe has been feeling under pressure with the bat, so that will do him the world of good. A good bit of character and fight, following on from last week.”

On new players Kazimi and Qtmanzai, Randell added: “It was really nice to have them.

“Taq bowled really well up the hill after telling me he was a batsman! I’m expecting some runs from him over the next few weeks.

“Then, Faisan, in a low chase he said he could hit it, so if you can get someone who hits a quick 20 it can change the game.

“I was really impressed with them and it was nice to get them involved.”

Weymouth skipper Beals was less than impressed with the Seasiders’ display.

He said: “It was a bad toss to lose but it still doesn’t mean you bat, bowl and field like that. We didn’t deserve much from the game.

“However, it was encouraging to see how close we got in the end.”

On Weymouth’s batting, Beals added: “We had no middle order, Connor applied himself and got us some extra points but 150 is never enough.

“We need meaningful contributions from our batters, I’m not praising mediocrity.”

Weymouth Seconds were soundly beaten by 96 runs against Hamworthy Recreation, while Portland Seconds lost to Lytchett by 83 runs.

In the upcoming round Weymouth will battle Poole on their home deck at Redlands, while Portland will look to make it back-to-back wins when they host Wimborne.

Portland main sponsor: A2Z Landscaping.

Weymouth man of the match, sponsored by Dorset Trade Skills: Connor Wills.