WEYMOUTH teenager Dan Belt agonisingly missed out on his maiden Minor Counties Championship ton as Dorset pushed Oxfordshire all the way before losing by four wickets at Dean Park on August 23.

In an innings that Dorset team manager Sean Walbridge labelled as "awesome", the 17-year-old all-rounder took his overnight tally of 26 not out to 98 before he ran out of partners in their second innings.

The right-handed Belt, who batted with great maturity way behind his years, was left high and dry on an unbeaten 98.

He would probably have got his hundred if Dorset's 11th man, Richard Pineo, had been able to bat.

But, injured the previous day while bowling, the seamer - who usually goes in at nine - was un-able to take his place in the middle because of an ankle problem.

Pineo was not even at the Bournemouth town centre ground and will be gutted when he hears how near Belt was to his maiden century.

Belt, however, missed out on the chance of getting his ton as 10-man Dorset were dismissed for 278 after adding 122 to their overnight tally of 156 for six.

That left Oxfordshire chasing 200 to win off a minimum of 61 overs and, despite stumbling to 39 for three, they reached their target with 7.1 overs to spare.

The defeat, Dorset's fourth in six games this year, left them with the Western Division wooden spoon and only one victory in 24 matches since the Minor Counties switched from two to three-day affairs in 2001.

Everyone was talking about Belt's performances as they left Dean Park last night, though, not about Dorset's well-documented decline from grace since they won the national title with such verve in 2000.

Walbridge led the accolades, saying: "It was an awesome, amazing innings from Dan and we are more than pleased with his performance over the whole three days.

"It has clearly shown that he will become a vital part of Dorset's future over the coming years.

"Dan's was an excellent knock, he played very maturely and batted very astutely with Tom Hicks.

"It was an amazing effort really. For us to get 278 when we had been 11 for three at tea on Monday, it was a superb effort."

Belt, who has come through Dorset's youth ranks and was making only his third championship appearance, wasn't even fazed by missing out on his ton by just two runs.

Walbridge said: "He is a pretty unflappable guy.

"He just took his pads off and Tom, our captain, said 'do you want to open the bowling, will you be all right?' because he understood how Dan must have felt.

"But Dan wasn't having any of it. He wasn't going to look back. He just said 'fine', took the ball and got on with it.

"He's got a great attitude and deserves all the praise he gets for this innings and his overall performance against Oxfordshire."

Belt, who put on 117 with Hicks for Dorset's seventh wicket and 44 for the ninth wicket with Rupert Kitzinger, cracked nine fours and one six.

Martin Ford, who bowled superbly, bagged three early wickets for 18 and sent down seven maidens as Oxfordshire stumbled for a while.

But Rob Williams (57) and Charlie Knightley (37) got them back on track before both were removed by Hicks, who also took three wickets in a fighting performance from Dorset.

SCORECARD

Minor Counties Championship Western Division

DORSET v OXFORDSHIRE

At Dean Park

Final day of three

Overnight: Dorset 228 (S A Selwood 84, Arnold 4-42, Hewitt 3-75) and 156-6 (Arnold 3-38, Hewitt 3-50) Oxfordshire 307 (R J Williams 60, J P Hewitt 57, C A Smith 56, Hicks 3-88).

DORSET Second Innings

T C Hicks c Hawtin b Hole 57

D P Belt not out 98

M D Ford c Hawtin b Hole 7

R C Kitzinger b Arnold 8

R W Pineo dnb hurt 0

Extras (17b 8lb 6nb) 31

Total: (all out, 85.4 overs) 278

Fall: 6-99 7-216 8-234 9-278.

Bowling: Hewitt 27-6-71-3, Arnold 27.4-8-65-4, Hole 14-3-52-2, Morris 4-1-16-0, Evans 8-1-32-0, Cook 3-0-11-0, Porter 2-0-6-0.

OXFORDSHIRE Second Innings

C A Smith c Lamb b Ford 18

A P Cook c Cowley b Ford 14

J J Porter lbw b Ford 6

R J Williams c Lawes b Hicks 57

C S Knightly c Belt b Hicks 37

I A Hawtin not out 26

J P Hewitt c Cowley b Hicks 0

S M Hole not out 28

Extras (5b 8lb 1w) 14

Total: (6 wkts, 53.5 overs) 200

Fall: 1-25 2-36 3-39 4-129 5-154 6-156.

Did not bat: P J Evans, D Morris, K A Arnold.

Bowling: Ford 15-7-18-3, Belt 8-0-35-0, Cowley 10-0-55-0, Kitzinger 2-0-10-0, Hicks 15-3-40-3, Selwood 3-0-29-0, Thurgood 0.5-0-0-0.

Points: Dorset 6 Oxfordshire 21 (Oxfordshire were deducted two points for slow over rate)

Umpires: T Beale, P Ratcliffe.