POOLE TOWN 165-9 (18pts) beat DORCHESTER 80 (4pts) by 76 runs

DORCHESTER’S Premier League title chances were dented as they were soundly beaten by rivals Poole Town.

On a wicket that suited bowling, the visitors restricted the hosts to 165-9, which, at the time, looked to give Dorchester the upper hand in the contest.

But they struggled with the bat and they folded to just 80, giving Poole a boost as they chase the Premier League crown.

After the game a deflated Simon Mitchem – captain of the beaten side – told Echosport: “It is very disappointing. It’s frustrating because we should have had them out for 130 or 140.

“We dropped some catches, which is unlike us.

“I felt the pitch, as shown by the scores, was not conducive to good cricket at all and it got worse as the game went on.

“It was never going to be a high scoring game and after bowling well, we felt we were in a good place to win the game but it hasn’t happened.

“We needed someone to stick around and bat well but that didn’t happen.”

Batting first, Poole fell to 21-2 after James Dunham (2-38) ran through the opening pair and it got worse for the hosts as they kept losing wickets as they limped to 56-5 after Paul Horne (3-36) and Mitchem (2-15) got in on the act.

The away side looked to have the hosts on the ropes but a battling 43 from Dave Miller kept the hosts in it.

He was joined by tail-enders Jean-Piere Cronje (23), Jon Salt (14) and Joe Wormington as the hosts put together a total to defend.

In reply, only Mitchem (21) and Will McKay (21) got into double figures as the away side were skittled out.

Opening bowler Joe Wilson (3-13) did the damage up top before Cronje (3-16) mopped up the tail as Dorchester could only muster 80 in response.

Despite the emphatic defeat, hope still remains for the county town side as they still have to play fellow title rivals Sherborne and Wimborne & Colehill in the coming weeks.

Mitchem added: “We have Sherborne and Wimborne & Colehill to come and we go again.

“We have to make sure we win our games and see where we end up.

“What ever other sides do is out of our hands, we just have to control what we do and see where that leaves us.”

Dorchester are back in action against Sherborne at the Rec on Saturday.