DORCHESTER 126 (16pts) beat BERE REGIS 95 (5pts) by 31 runs

DORCHESTER finally got their season at home up and running with victory over Bere Regis in a low-scoring Premier Two encounter.

After their first two games of the campaign at Dorchester Rec fell to the weather, the hosts appeared to have blown the chance of a win on Saturday when they could only make 126.

But three quick wickets for captain Dan Belt at the start of the visitors’ reply and impressive performances from fellow bowlers Will Caldwell, Joe Power, Eamonn Scott and James Dunham saw Bere Regis routed for 95.

And, while Belt knows that his side’s batting will need to improve for the visit of Martinstown this Saturday, he was more than happy with Dorchester’s ability to bounce back after a poor start.

“We were three wickets down for one run and I had to go out to face a hat-trick ball,” he said.

“But I had a good partnership with Quenton Miller, though wickets fell regularly after that.

“Simon Mitchem and Josh Foot managed to get us to 126 which was obviously under-par, but we knew that with our bowling attack we had a chance of winning the game.

“I had a great start with the ball and we also had them three down for three, and it was a great team effort in the field with all the bowlers doing a good job.

“Even though we only scored 126, we were confident we had the bowlers to win the game for us and everyone was still really pumped up in the changing room before we went out to bowl.

“That shows the mentality of this squad.

“If we have a bad first half to a game we can pull it back in the second half.

“All in all, I felt we bowled tremendously well and never gave them a chance to get in or any free runs”

He continued: “Martinstown at home next is a huge game given the start to the season they’ve had.

“I can’t grumble about how we are bowling at the moment but we know we need to improve our batting.”