POOLE 168-9 (17pts) beat WEYMOUTH 156-8 (9pts) by 12 runs

STAND-IN skipper Simon Browne took plenty of positives from Weymouth's display, as the Seasiders almost pulled off a shock upset against defending champions Poole.

Claiming nine points from a tight encounter at Redlands, all-rounder Browne (45) felt the hosts had a good chance of reaching their target of 169 when he put on a strong stand alongside David Trotter (44).

But it wasn’t quite to be as the pair fell late on trying to up the scoring rate.

“I felt if Trotts and I had stayed to the end we could have got a little bit closer," he told Echosport. "It’s disappointing because I backed us to get the runs.

“We didn’t go after the spinners enough and in hindsight we should have probably had a bit more of a dart at them.

“They bowled 10 overs each for next to nothing but we just wanted to keep wickets in hand to have a go at the end, though it just got away from us.”

Earlier in the day, Poole elected to bat first at Redlands and were reduced to 40-6 at one stage by an eager Weymouth attack.

But the visitors rallied and a key contribution from David Miller (74) got them back in contention to post a competitive total.

He was helped by a resolute 39 from Jon Salt batting at number eight.

Graham Puckett (3-19) was the pick of the Seasiders’ attack, while Trotter (3-27) dismissed three of Poole’s top four.

But it was then Weymouth’s turn to stutter with the bat as they found themselves 54-5 in reply.

Browne and Trotter gave them hope going into the latter stages, but the hosts fell just a dozen runs short of the visitors' score as they ran out of deliveries.

It was not all doom and gloom for the hosts, and their skipper for the day took heart from the team's effort following their disaster at Sherborne on the opening day.

Browne added: “The good thing is that it was a far better performance than last week and everybody did their bit.

“It was a competitive game of cricket. Poole knew they were in a game and we just didn’t quite get over the line.

“The main thing is that we competed for all 100 overs and came very close to winning.

"I will hand the reins back to Kieron (Womble) now and we have something to work on for the next match against Dorchester.”