BERE REGIS 194 (5pts) lost to DORCHESTER 198-2 (20pts) by eight wickets

DORCHESTER’S bowlers surged late on to take eight wickets for 55 runs to defeat Bere Regis to continue their chase to the top of the table in the Dorset Funeral Plan Premier Division.

The county town side are currently on 203 points, eight behind current leaders Poole Town and second-placed Wimborne & Colehill, while Bere are sixth despite the disappointing result.

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first, despite a difficult start soon found a good rhythm.

Rob Cole was bowled by Simon Mitchem with 11 runs on the board, before Matt King was trapped lbw by James Dunham 18 runs later.

However, Robert Murphy and Richard Cole then put on a 110-run partnership to seriously bolster their total.

It was then that Dorchester found their groove in bowling as Richard Cole was caught by Joshua Richardson from a Jack Walklett ball to end the partnership.

Dorchester took steady wickets from then on, with Tim Goodhew being caught by Mitchem again from a Richardson delivery with Bere on 150-4.

Dorchester ramped up the pressure when Richardson caught and bowled Garry King with Bere on 163-5 and Dorchester took three further wickets without conceding a run thanks to bowling from captain James Dunham.

Ultimately Bere ended their innings on 194, leaving work for Dorchester to do albeit less than they might have once feared.

The visitors rose to the fight with brutal efficiency at the crease, with William Caldwell playing a starring role as he opened and hit an unbeaten 88.

Caldwell’s opening partnership with Dan Morris lasted 84 runs before the latter was bowled by David Griffiths.

A minor hiccup came when Mitchem was bowled for one run with Dorchester needing 106 more runs to seal the win.

However, the partnership of Caldwell and Eral Anderson did just that as the away side earned a fine victory.

After the win, Dorchester captain Dunham said: “It was a very good batting display, to be honest.

“Will (Caldwell) and Dan (Morris) started the innings off well and Eral (Anderson) came in at the end and finished it off.

“They all batted very well and contributed towards the game.”

Dunham did however, express concern had the runs not been obtained by the opening four batsmen.

Dunham admitted: “It was quite good those two got the runs really because I am not sure we had too much left on the day.

“It was good for those boys to see it through, it was really positive from all of us.”

Commenting on their bowling display, Dunham said: “To finish them off 55-8 was very good, it was a good fightback from all of the boys.”

Bere captain Rich Cole said: “It was not great, we failed really to push on from our position, the good platform that we had.

“A bit of a collapse from our middle order meant we could not get above the 200 mark and beyond, to be honest.

“We should have been targetting 250 runs plus, so we were 50 runs short of our position that we wanted to be in.

“That being said, 190-odd should have been something that if we bowled well we could have possibly defended a lot better.”

Discussing what they said at the turnaround following the disappointing end to their innings, Cole said: “The discussion at half-time was still positive. We still had runs on the board.

“We are at home we know how to bowl when we are at home, we know how to field.

“It is just that too many loose deliveries meant that the opener scored all of the runs, got himself set and scored a really big knock.”