WIMBORNE & COLEHILL SECONDS 211-9 (20pts) beat Dorchester SECONDS 183 (9pts) by 28 runs

DORCHESTER Seconds have been drawn into a relegation battle after losing at fellow strugglers Wimborne & Colehill Seconds.

The county town side have now lost four of their last five fixtures with their single success coming against rock-bottom Compton House.

Saturday’s defeat at the Leaze leaves Ian Sibley’s men just 0.77 clear of the drop-zone.

And with a home match against another of their relegation rivals – Witchampton – this weekend, the second-team skipper is fully aware of what’s at stake.

He said: “It’s very tight and we could do with winning on Saturday. If we lose we will have a big problem on our hands but if we win I think we’ll be okay.

“The latter half of the season has not gone as well as the first half. We have fallen away and we need to pick up another win, preferably two. Therefore, Saturday’s game is make or break for us.”

Wimborne’s Jeff Stratton proved key in last weekend’s outing as he plundered 70 runs in the home side’s total of 211-9.

Steve Budd was the best performing bowler for the county town outfit as he returned figures of 3-38 from 12 overs.

Dorchester made a fairly decent opening in reply, through Ian Sibley (30) and number three batsman Joe Power (33), but the middle order failed to deliver before Ian Legg, at nine, chipped in with a quickfire 30.

However, the chase proved too great an obstacle for the visitors and they bowed out on 183.

Sibley, who won the toss and elected to field, added: “It could have been a closer game had someone on our side got 60 or 70 – and that’s been the case for much of the season.

“Their opener, who did get 70, made all the difference. I could have done with getting a similar score but just as I started to push the score on, I got out unfortunately.

“Our bowling wasn’t too bad and our fielding wasn’t bad either. The target set was gettable, Joe Power and Ian Legg both did well, but we just needed someone to go on and get a big score.”