BOURNEMOUTH 261-9 (20pts) beat DORCHESTER SECONDS 186 (8pts) by 75 runs

VICE-CAPTAIN Stuart Voss was pleased to see Dorchester Seconds close the gap on Dorset League Division One safety – albeit by the smallest of margins following defeat at home to Bournemouth.

The county town outfit managed to pick up eight points in the face of defeat while relegation rivals Broadstone Seconds, who lie directly above Dorchester, collected seven in their five-wicket loss at Shroton.

That means the gap between the two sides stands at just 0.15, with only three games of the season left to play.

Reflecting on the clash with third-placed Bournemouth, Voss said: “The defeat wasn’t an absolute travesty. It seemed a somewhat heavy loss but we managed to pick up some crucial points, and close the gap on Broadstone, which is good.

“Bournemouth batted well and you can see why they are third in the league. However, we did drop a couple of catches, one by myself, so we could have pegged them back a bit more.

“We’ve chased 260-odd before but as soon as we lost three early wickets it was a tough ask.”

Despite the defeat, Voss praised Lee Ames (3-41) and Ian Sibley (2-39) as well as teenager Hugh Pryce (58) for a mature display with the bat.

The vice-skipper added: “Lee and Ian got five wickets between them while Hugh batted well and deserved his 58.

“Hugh held our innings together and it was a very impressive display from him, especially as he’s still only 16.”

The visitors won the toss at the Rec and opted to bat first. And they got off to a comfortable start as openers Chris Collins (53) and Jake Hurley (55) led Bournemouth to 98 before the fall of the first wicket.

Ben Linsey-Clarke (41) proved just as stubborn to remove while D Pearce (26) and Jonathan Symonds (35) also contributed in the middle order.

Dorchester sniffed an opportunity when the away side lost the fifth wicket for 172 but it was not be and Bournemouth held their nerve to post an impressive 261.

The county town side successfully chased down 263 back in May – against lowly Broadstone – but hopes of a repeat show started to vanish fairly quickly.

Besides Pryce’s excellent effort, only Quenton Miller (20) and Sibley (31) managed to reach double figures. The majority of Bournemouth’s bowlers provided 38 in extras, however, the lethal attack of Brett Spicer (6-26) certainly did Dorchester no favours at all.

In the end, the home side fell 75 runs short and await a trip to mid-table Ferndown this Saturday.