BRIDPORT 120 (17pts) beat PIMPERNE 111 (10pts) by 9 runs

BRIDPORT survived a scare against nine-man Pimperne before eventually recording a slender victory at Brewery Field.

Despite there being plenty of gaps in the field, the hosts managed just 120 with the bat but their opponents then went on to collapse themselves in a nail-biting reply that saw them fall just nine runs adrift.

Reflecting on the Dorset League Division Four contest, winning skipper Liam Toohill said: “We lost the toss and were put into bat.

“Mark Smith departed to a brilliant catch with the score on 20 before I then fell on 32, and at that stage it wasn’t looking good.

“Ollie Lee was then the next to go before Mark Tozer (43) decided to counter attack by exploiting the gaps in the field.

“Wickets continued to fall at the other end though, and when Mark Tozer was our ninth man out it was left to Cerne Iveson and Calvin Lewis to boost our score up to 120.

“We then went out to bowl a six-over spell before tea and in that period Pimperne raced away to 27 with the ball falling just short of fielders and Will Meech dropping a simple chance at slip.

“After the break, Mark Smith then came on in the seventh over and quickly left his mark by graciously accepting a caught and bowled that was drilled back at his face.

“Alex Lee then knocked the other opener’s middle stump back, only for another partnership, between House and Shep-pard, to take the score up to 79.

“I then came back on and clean bowled House before Mark Smith had their number five batsmen superbly caught by Mark Cope.

“At this point they only needed 37 to win but with only nine men we also required just four wickets.

“We kept plugging away and when Ed Halson took the key wicket of Sheppard with his fourth ball we eventually went on to knock them over.”

Bridport now sit fifth in the table with four victories from seven games.

Toohill went on to add: “I was thrilled to win this match. Mark Tozer batted brilliantly and Cerne Iveson’s 13 not out at the end was a great innings.

“However, our batting can still be improved. No one in the middle order seemed to want to hang around and bat for a long period of time.

“A couple areas of our fielding can also be sharpened up but this was a great result.”