FRUSTRATED Dorchester skipper Simon Mitchem admitted “we just have to keep winning games now” after his side lost ground in the race for the Dorset Funeral Plan Premier Division crown – without playing any cricket at Swanage.

The county town side were left kicking their heels in their scheduled clash against the Swans, as heavy downpours eventually led to the clash being called off without a ball being bowled.

“We waited as long as we could and then it started raining again.

It wasn’t drying out which was the problem – it was just too wet on the square,” captain Mitchem explained.

“Their captain and I agreed that it wasn’t getting any better. We waited as long as we could and you can’t do anything about it.”

Dorchester, who started the weekend top of the pile in the league, were punished in the grand scheme of things for not being able to get a game on.

They dropped to fourth after wins for Wimborne & Colehill, Sherborne and Poole Town enabled them to leapfrog Mitchem’s men.

Both Wimborne and Sherborne recorded the maximum 20 points for wins over Martinstown and Shillingstone respectively, Poole returned 18 for a triumph against Broadstone.

In contrast, Dorchester, through no fault of their own, were awarded only five points for the abandonment.

The league’s playing conditions state: “In the event of a game being abandoned each team will score five points each, along with any ‘bonus’ points gained.” A rule the Dorchester captain feels is “not ideal”.

He added: “It’s there to encourage teams to play but 10 points may be a bit fairer – you can lose a game and get 13 points.

“It’s not ideal through no fault of our own to just get five points in a game where we would have really fancied ourselves to get 20.

“We just have to keep winning games now.”