MARTINSTOWN 207-9 (8pts) lost to STALBRIDGE 208-8 (19pts) by 2 wickets

STALBRIDGE survived a major batting collapse to edge home against Martinstown.

The hosts’ win was their second over Ed Nichols’ men in the Dorset Premier League this season – but they very nearly threw it away.

After Nichols won the toss and decided to bat, Martinstown got off to a solid if unspectacular start.

They had reached 25 by the time the first wicket fell, with four more batsmen dismissed before the visitors got to three figures.

Nichols (14), Lee House (23) and George Pope (16) all found their feet at the crease but failed to push on to a big score.

Steve Forshaw (2-27) accounted for two of the top three, while Andy Dike (1-43) clean bowled Liam Banfield for just four.

There was some respite for Martinstown thanks to Sam Kershaw’s 28, but he became one of George Coleman’s three victims on the day.

Ross Stewart also made it to double figures with 15 before he perished to Coleman (3-39).

However, with the visitors staring down the barrel at 126-6, James Caldwell and Teddy Andrews stood tall with a stand of 86 for the seventh wicket.

They seemed to be taking Martinstown past 200 but both fell to Simon Sweetman, who also had Chris Read stumped for a duck.

The visitors saw out their allotted 50 overs and finished on 207-9.

Martinstown were looking for a couple of early Stalbridge wickets to boost their chances of a win after four consecutive losses.

But their hopes took a battering from openers Stuart Sweetman and wicketkeeper Jason Matthews.

The duo put the visiting bowling attack to the sword with innings of 85 and 52 respectively to seemingly take the game away from Nichols and his charges.

There followed a batting collapse which saw Stalbridge lose eight wickets for 48 runs.

Matt Camp (3-49) and James Pickering (2-24) accounted for the openers and only two of the remaining batsmen scored 10 or more.

Caldwell and Banfield weighed in with figures of 2-46 and 1-15 to really put their opponents under the cosh on 196-8.

With plenty of overs in hand, Simon Sweetman (10 not out) and Dike (7 not out) did just enough to see the hosts over the line.

Martinstown can break their bad run of results this Saturday when they host winless Weymouth.

Meanwhile, in County Division Five, Martinstown Seconds suffered a 143-run defeat to in-form Charlton Down at Lower Ashton Farm.