BLANDFORD 107-3 (20pts) beat WEYMOUTH 106 (2pts) by seven wickets

WEYMOUTH’S streak of seven straight wins came crashing down as Blandford rocked the Seasiders’ promotion bid in a simple seven-wicket County Division Two victory.

Crucially, Blandford won the toss and with rain falling, invited Weymouth to bat in testing conditions.

The Seasiders’ opening pair of Kieron Womble (12) and Paul Collins (14) put on 21 for the first wicket until Womble was dismissed by Kevin Abbott (1-25).

Collins soon followed, pouched by Alex Sullivan off the bowling of the economical Ryan White (1-13), before Simon Browne (3) fell to the short bowling of Sandesh Lama (4-33).

A brief rain delay lessened the match to 42 overs per innings, but Blandford later hurried through the rest of the Seasiders’ line-up, with only Jack Sapsworth (22) resisting through a series of eye-catching cover-drives.

Weymouth’s other batsmen could not reach double figures, as extras (30) proved the hosts’ top scorer in a dismal innings of 106 all out.

In reply, and with the sun now shining, Blandford’s Sullivan (27) and Abbott (8) blasted their way to 27-0, until Sami Rathnayake (1-16) and captain Harry Mitchell (1-20) struck to leave the home side on 43-2.

White (20) played steadily until he was trapped leg before by Graham Puckett (1-26), but brothers Lewis (23no) and Joe Freak (11no) comfortably guided Blandford home to victory.

Speaking to Echosport after the loss, Mitchell felt “every single thing” went Blandford’s way.

He said: “Losing the toss was 90 per cent of the game. We were batting in the rain, we got through their openers alright, but it stopped in the pitch, it was difficult.

“We shot ourselves in the foot. We were better off not playing. (After rain) we changed our gameplan and saw what we could do.

“But it stopped raining over tea and it dried up again so they had a better pitch to bat on. Every single thing went right for them.”

He added: “From the word go their opener just went out slogging. That was it, we were just chasing the game. It was a bad day at the office.

“As soon as you lost the toss, you’re struggling all game. They didn’t bat once in the rain.”

The result sees Weymouth slip to third after Marnhull thrashed title rivals Wimborne and Colehill Seconds by nine wickets in a rain-affected fixture.

Elsewhere, both Portland Red Triangle and Weymouth Seconds saw their matches cancelled due to rain.

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