BRIDPORT 124 (16pts) beat PARLEY SECONDS 55-9 (5pts) on a rain reduced target

A FINE display in the field saw Bridport pour further misery on rock-bottom Parley Seconds in a rain-affected clash.

Despite being bowled out for 124, and seeing the home side set a target of 96 from 29 overs due to the wet weather delay, the West Dorset outfit were confident of recording their second win of the Dorset League Division Three.

And their optimism was rewarded as the four-pronged attack of Wes Lewis (0-16) Dom Gape (2-5), Dave Herbert (4-11) and skipper Liam Toohill (3-19) wreaked havoc to see Parley reach just 55.

A delighted Toohill said: “They won the toss and put us in to bat.

“We started poorly with the bat, losing our first three batsmen with only 24 on the board.

“Mark Smith (11) then put on a partnership with Robin Jones (8) to take the team up to 43 before we lost another three wickets for just seven runs.

“Dom (14) and Luke King (23) batted very well. They played themselves in before they started to up the run-rate with Luke hitting the ball strongly down the ground.

“They put on 40 when Luke was caught out and we then lost Dom before we got to 100. We came off for rain and took an early tea with our score on 100-8. We went back out and thanks to Ed Halson (18 not out) and Wes (8) we managed to post 124.

“I knew 124 was a good score as the pitch was slow and we had a strong bowling line-up.

“However, because of the rain delay we had lost 16 overs and Parley were set 96 to win from 29 overs. We started well, Wes bowled three straight maidens and Dom picked up a wicket to leave them 15-1 after 10 overs.

“The key wicket was that of opener Daniel Sufi (20) and he was well caught by Dom. It was a very difficult catch, going up a long way and swirling around in the wind.

“After that, their batsmen didn’t look like scoring any runs – we stopped every ball and held every catch that came our way.

“Dave bowled excellently. Pace off the ball was the better option and Dave excelled in these conditions.

“All of our bowlers bowled very well, while our fielding and catching was superb. We deserved the victory and worked hard for it.

“Overall, there are some areas of our batting that can be improved, although Dom, Luke, Wes and Ed batted intelligently down the order to boost our score and run-rate.

“Our bowling and fielding were excellent though, we held every catch that came our way and that was the difference.”

Bridport go in search of back-to-back wins when they host Cerne Valley this Saturday (2pm).