MARTINSTOWN 323-6 (20pts) beat SHROTON 209 (7pts) by 114 runs

MARTINSTOWN avenged their 48-run defeat away to Shroton by completing an emphatic 114-run over the Fairfield side in their Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League tussle at Lower Ashton Farm.

Shroton elected to field first after winning the toss and experienced early joy when Finnigan Young (3-55) and Ryan Doble (1-33) removed openers Lee House (0) and Monty Payne (15) respectively.

At 45-2, the Villagers needed to rebuild and they did so with an outstanding 195-run partnership between young Sean Williams (126) and captain Ed Nichols (93).

Williams’ exquisite century came off 138 balls and included 19 fours, while Nichols propelled four sixes and eight fours to the boundary in his 81-ball stay at the crease.

The pair perished to Young and Tony Wooldridge (1-56) respectively, while further scores from Ryan Chase (25) and Matt Camp (21no) saw Martinstown cruise to 323-6 from 50 overs.

In reply, Matthew Hewitt (52) provided the anchor role for Shroton, but the hosts regularly took wickets as the spin bowling of Chase (3-32) proved particularly effective.

Chase helped reduce Shroton to 132-7 but late rallies from Young (30) and Doble (18) were cut short, while promising youngster Nathan McNab took 2-40 to help bowl the away team out for 209, despite conceding 51 extras.

Speaking to Echosport, Nichols felt his enormous third-wicket stand with Williams proved the difference.

He said: “They were very upfront. They turned up and were missing quite a few. They tried to cobble together an 11, so it was a good day to play them.

“Equally, they won the toss and had a bowl in overcast conditions with a little bit of juice in the pitch. They picked up a couple of wickets and gave us a bit of a scare.

“That third-wicket partnership we kind of took them out of the game. We bided our time, build that partnership, tried to kick on and we’ve done quite a lot of damage in the last 15 overs.

“It was a bit of a grind trying to get those 10 wickets, they stuck at it quite well.”

On Williams’ innings, Nichols added: “He played beautifully, it’s his first hundred so it’s a big relief for him. He missed out against Bere a few weeks ago with 86.

“It’s a monkey off his back. He’s obviously got the appetite to make big scores, which is really good news for us because those are the scores that win you games.”

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