SWANAGE 113 (5pts) lost to DORCHESTER 114-8 (17pts) by 2 wickets

DORCHESTER clinched just their third Dorset Premier League success of the season on Saturday, as they survived a mini batting collapse to beat Swanage at Days Park.

The county town side remain one place off the bottom of the table but they closed the gap on the Swans, the team directly above them in the standings, from 35 points to 23.

Skipper Simon Mitchem spoke before the game about the importance of Dorchester’s fixtures in July on their season as a whole.

And, after seeing off Swanage, they now host Stalbridge this Saturday with a renewed sense of belief that they can avoid the drop to County Division One at the end of the summer.

Victory at Days Park was built around an excellent performance by the county town bowling attack as they dismissed the hosts for just 113 after Mitchem had lost the toss.

Given the heavy overnight rain, Swanage’s decision to bat first perplexed the Dorchester captain, but he wasn’t too bothered about that when the game got underway.

James Dunham and the returning Dan Belt claimed four and two wickets respectively, before Rob Waite, Tom Blair and Mitchem himself got in on the act to leave the Swans reeling.

In reply, the visitors lost Sean Fitzgerald to the second ball of the innings, however, Mitchem and Pete Phillips steadied the ship with a stand of more than 60.

When Mitchem played on, Belt helped push the total to 90, but with the finish line in sight things turned sour for Dorchester.

They proceeded to lose six more wickets for next to nothing, giving Swanage a glimmer of hope that they could pull off an unlikely win.

But George Foot and Dunham steered them home, with the latter hitting the winning runs, much to Mitchem’s relief.

“It was great to win another game and everyone was really pleased to get over the line,” he told Echosport. “We dug in really well and that was great to see.

“I found their decision to bat first puzzling but to bowl them out for 113 was great.

“But even though it wasn’t a big run chase, sometimes getting a smaller total can be harder than a bigger one because you’re expected to do it.

“We had a bit of a collapse and so it was a big relief when George hit the runs to win the game.”

He added: “We’re already looking forward to Stalbridge at home and if we play like we did on Saturday then we’ll have a good chance of winning that one too.”