BERE REGIS (19pts) 192-9 beat DORCHESTER (10pts) 184 by 8 runs

DORCHESTER captain Dan Belt couldn’t hide his frustration after his side came up just short at Bere Regis.

An eight-run defeat for the visitors saw them knocked off the top of Premier Two, with Martinstown regaining first place.

The two sides meet on Saturday in what will be the last match before the league splits – and Belt is hoping Dorchester can hit back in style following the weekend’s setback.

As Belt explains, the encounter with Bere Regis was one that Dorchester could quite easily have won.

“It was very disappointing to lose given the situation we were in,” he said. “I took a wicket in the first over of their innings and we had them at 44-5.

“They then had a good partnership and we had a spell where we bowled too many four balls which saw them get away from us a little bit.

“We were happy with chasing 192 on a ground that was good for scoring quick runs, but we got off to the worst possible start when Simon Mitchem was out leg before to the first ball of the innings.

“Pete Moxom (57) and Marcus Evans (40) played well together and then me and Pete put on 77 for the third wicket.

“But the over after Pete got out we lost three wickets and ended up going from 157-2 to 159-7. I was out the next over and it was an uphill struggle from there really.

“James Dunham was out leg before, but he thought he had hit the ball, then George Foot and Dan Morris had a good little partnership before Dan was out.”

Dorchester ultimately fell eight runs short of their hosts’ total and now go into the game against Martinstown six points behind their rivals in the standings.

Martinstown eased to a nine-wicket thrashing of Wimborne & Colehill Seconds on Saturday.

Belt added: “Martinstown is a big game for us because we want to finish the first part of the season at the top. We also want to carry as much of a points advantage over the other teams as we can going into the play-offs.”