DORCHESTER v BROADSTONE

DAN Belt is expecting to welcome back several key players for tomorrow’s clash against Broadstone at the Rec (1.30pm).

The encounter will bring the curtain down on what has been a bitterly disappointing campaign for the county town outfit in which they have claimed just three victories from 15 completed matches – a record that has cost them their place in the Dorset Premier League.

For Belt, relegation has been extremely hard to take but with James Caldwell, Dan Morris, Steve Gerety and Adam Rendell all back in contention this weekend, he is hopeful his men can at least finish the season on a positive note.

He told Echosport: “Our aim tomorrow is to try and conclude what has been a very poor season with a good performance and hopefully a victory.

“When we played Broadstone at their place earlier in the season it was a game I felt we should have won.

“We kept them down to a reasonably low total but then gave our wickets away, which in the end cost us dear in a 22-run defeat. “Our batting has not backed us up for most of the season but there have also been times where we have had our opponents on the rack with the ball, only to allow them to get away again.

“That was another thing that happened at Broadstone with their number eight scoring 60-odd and it is something we need to start cutting out of our game.

“If they bat first tomorrow we need to try and keep them down to as low a total as possible, which would then take some of the pressure off the batsmen.

“If we do that then there is every chance we can finish the season on a bit of a high.”

Belt also reckons the return of experienced players like Cald-well, Morris, Gerety and Rendell will provide huge assistance to the youngsters in the side.

He added: “It is important for the younger ones to learn off senior players that have played at this standard for a while.

“Not only will that help them develop as players but they will also learn how to go about things.

“A lot of the younger ones haven’t played much 50-over cricket before so it’s a big ask for them, particularly the 14-15 year-olds.

“However, it is also a good learning curve and the more help they can get with that the better it will be for the future.”

Broadstone have lost their last two games but still sit third in the table while Dorchester are 28 points adrift of local rivals Wey-mouth at the bottom.