SIMON Mitchem will not be taking Ridgeway rivals Weymouth lightly tomorrow at Redlands (1pm) as the sides do battle for the second time in the league this season.

The Dorchester skipper was unbeaten as his side recorded a four-wicket win at the Rec in May, inflicting one of the Seasiders’ 11 straight losses in the division so far.

And while his side are only one place above Weymouth in the Premier League table, the county town side are a whopping 65 points ahead of Kieron Womble’s men after winning their last two games.

“It would be nice to keep the winning streak going,” Mitchem told Echosport.

“I think we have known all season we have played some good cricket and we have realised that, even though we are down near the bottom, it hasn’t been a true reflection of how we have played.

“It’s not going to be an easy game for sure, they will want to win as much as us so we will take nothing for granted. Hopefully, if we have play as we have done, it will get us over the line.

“We will be going out there and treating them the same as any other team in the league.

“Regardless of their position, they have some very good cricketers that can hurt us so we won’t be complacent at all.”

Dan Morris, who played a big part in the county town outfit’s win over Stalbridge last weekend, will miss out along with seamer James Dunham. Rob Waite and Tom Blair are set to come back into the Dorchester line-up.

Meanwhile, Weymouth skipper Kieron Womble has played down the occasion as a whole.

He added: “I don’t think it should be bigged up as a derby for us.

“We won’t really care who it is to be honest, we just want to go out and try and win.

“We are going to try some new things. Hopefully they pay off or at least give us a good indication of where we can go from there.

“I think they have got some really good players in their team and I know Simon (Mitchem) quite well. He is very competitive so every game they go into they will really want to win.

Simon Browne and Pete Gordon are set to be unavailable for the Seasiders tomorrow, while Womble himself returns alongside Jonny Armfield, Will McKay and Laurie Whyte.

Reflecting on when the two sides last met, the Weymouth captain claimed: “I think that game was a bit like the story of our season, we bowled quite well but just didn’t quite take the wickets.

“Simon is a good player and I think he is playing quite similarly to the way he did against us. He has been holding them together through bad patches and you do need that.

“I am sure we will have our own plans against him but I don’t think him alone is going to make a big difference, a couple of players in either team are going to have to shine.”

Womble also gave an update on the club’s decision to potentially drop down more than one division next season.

He said: “Realistically we are going down so we will at least be in Division One.

“If you ask me, I think the aim would be to stay in Division One and a lot of people would like that but we will go to an AGM and it will be voted on.”

  • Dorchester Seconds host their Weymouth counterparts in County Division Three tomorrow.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Martinstown will be looking to get back to winning ways when they visit fourth-placed Wimborne & Colehill.

Beaminster visit Kingston Lacy in Division Three, Abbotsbury make the trip to Sturminster & Hinton in Division Four and Charlton Down travel to Bradford Abbas in Division Five.