WEYMOUTH 187-6 (19pts) beat BERE REGIS 175 (10pts) by 12 runs

SEASIDERS’ skipper Simon Browne was delighted to get his side’s season off to a flying start as Weymouth held their nerve to beat Bere Regis in their opening league fixture of the summer.

The visitors, who took until August to record a win in the Dorset Premier League last season, got off and running straight away by defending a total of 187-6 in tough conditions to score.

None of the visiting batsmen passed 30 after being put in by the hosts, but six of the top seven chipped in with scores of 20 or more to help accumulate a competitive total of 187-6.

Add to that a highly disciplined performance with the ball, which included two wickets each for Graham Puckett, Harry Mitchell and Neil Walton, and the Seasiders managed to dismiss their opposition 13 runs short of their victory target of 188.

Speaking after the game, Browne, who is set to share the captaincy with Kieron Womble this season, told Echosport: “We won the last game of last season as well, so that’s actually two on the bounce!

“It’s nice to win the first game, to be honest. Bere Regis are a good side and they had a couple missing.

“We are a mixture of youth and experience but everybody contributed.

“All in all, it was a good start. We aren’t a finished article by any stretch of the imagination but where we went through losing so many games last year, to start off with a win is good.”

Browne admitted there was still room for improvement as Weymouth look to re-build from last year’s poor campaign, but was keen to take the positives.

“The only frustrating thing from our point of view is there were about five batsman that got in and got into good positions and didn’t kick on and get more runs,” he added.

“But if you had offered me 187 on that pitch, which is historically a bit low and slow, I would have bitten your hand off.

“It’s one of those pitches where if you tighten up a little bit, runs are hard to come by. They aren’t flying off thick edges and you had to put the pace on the ball.”

Speaking about the younger players in the side, the skipper added: “They are a year older so they are a year stronger and have got more experience.

“It will give them confidence and hopefully we can go on and have a reasonable season.”