SHAFTESBURY 166-8 (7) lost to CHARLTON DOWN 167-6 (19) by 4 wickets

CHARLTON Down returned to winning ways with an emphatic four-wicket victory over early league leaders Shaftesbury.

Shaftesbury batted first and their captain Rich Bryant and Dorset Over-50s’ skipper Tom White batted patiently against the accurate bowling of Matt and Dan Stevens.

At the 20 over drinks break, the score was on 81-0 but, in the very next over, a sharp piece of fielding by Nick Voss saw White easily run out for 39.

Javed Gill then produced five fantastic overs conceding only 11 runs and was so unlucky not to take a wicket, heaping the pressure on to the Shaftesbury batsmen.

Bryant soon followed when Kim Park (1-38) trapped him leg before for a well constructed 43.

Shaftesbury were soon 101-3 when a drilled throw from the boundary by Sam Roles enabled Rob Deadman to acrobatically run out Chris Pym for nine.

Captain Pete Tucker (1-22) then came on to remove Dave Toogood with the score on 115-4.

The introduction of spin from Sam Roles (2-37) and the returning Matt Stevens (2-29) saw Shaftesbury slip from 137-4 to 146-8.

But excellent batting from Andy Williams, who finished unbeaten on 56, pushed the hosts’ total to 166-8 at the close.

Down’s innings started briskly with 21 runs coming from the first four overs before Jae Miller miss-timed a pull shot to mid-on.

Nick Voss (11) and Cameron Lucas (25) then batted intelligently and produced some lovely shots through the covers but the partnership was ended when Voss was bowled by the impressive Mark Lewis, who conceded only 19 runs from his eight overs.

Lucas followed shortly afterwards hitting a full toss straight to mid-on.

A 44-run partnership between Roles and Matt Stevens raced the Charlton Down total to 97-4 but, unfortunately, Stevens was out with the score on 108-5 when the ball lodged in his pads and he was adjudged leg before.

The Shaftesbury change bowlers then had no answer to Kim Park and Javed Gill. Cultured sweeps and cover drives from Park (18) mixed with some lusty blows by Gill (27) soon had the scoreboard ticking over.

The 50-run partnership between the two came up in only eight overs and the winning runs were hit with almost eight overs remaining to confirm a resounding victory for the visitors.