PORTLAND RT 303-6 (19pts) beat COMPTON HOUSE 227-9 (8pts) by 76 runs

PORTLAND Red Triangle racked up more than 300 on their way to victory over Compton House and second place in County Division Two.

Batting first, the island club lost the early wickets of Simon Proffitt and Chris Leake with only 32 on the board, but they were keen to stay positive.

The experience of Gary Randell (34) and Dave Adkins (85) took Triangle past the 100 mark.

Gary Randell eventually fell to a sharp delivery leaving Matt Randell (84) to come in and take over.

Adkins carried on batting through the innings but the Portland skipper wanted to post a big score and made every effort to do so, striking his 84 off just 54 balls with seven sixes and eight fours.

The pair had put on 124 for the fourth wicket before Callan Laws (22) came in looking to go after the ball. He succeeded by scoring his runs at just over a run a ball.

Portland were still short of 300 when skipper Randell departed but Chris Theakstone continued the quick tempo. He struck 27 off just 12 balls as the hosts closed on a daunting 303-6 for Compton House to chase.

Looking for early wickets with the ball, Rob Townley (1-42) delivered for the islanders, picking up the early scalp of M Harper.

Opening the bowling with Townley was Proffitt, who bowled a sublime spell to return figures of 2-20.

Going into the drinks break, Triangle knew they needed wickets to claim maximum points.

And straight after, captain Randell (3-21) backed up his good performance with the bat. He brought himself on and claimed a wicket with his first ball, removing the dangerous M Kennedy for 60.

With the game almost won, the island skipper then chopped and changed his attack in a bid to bowl the visitors out, but it was not meant to be as spirited Compton House put on 100 for the 10th wicket, finishing on 227-9.

Commenting on the performance, Randell said: “I’m really impressed with the win.

“The way we went about our batting was how I’ve wanted us to all year, but we’ve only just really clicked as a unit and come together how we wanted to.

“Dave played an absolute gem of an innings rebuilding with Gary, which meant I could come in and do what I did down the order.

“It was a shame not to pick up 20 points but, at the end of the day, a win is a win and if we continue to win then picking up 20 points every game doesn’t matter as much.”