PORTLAND RT 315-8 (20pts) beat ASHMORE 135 (6pts) by 180 runs

PORTLAND Red Triangle piled on the runs to beat Ashmore by180 runs in Dorset County Division Two at Reforne on Saturday.

Portland won the toss and elected to bat first and were confident in their ability to have a more successful day than the previous week.

The hosts got off to a good start with Simon Barrett (61) and Elliott Sawyer (35) putting on 64 for the opening wicket in just 13 overs.

Cameron Midgley then came in and didn’t take long to settle, scoring 47 off of just 29 balls to put on 82 for the second wicket, before departing so close to his half century.

Simon Proffitt then joined Simon Barrett at the crease and looked like he had never been away, scoring freely around the ground to make his 76.

Captain Matt Randell joined him at the crease scoring a quick-fire 33 to help take Portland up to 316-7 off of their 45 overs.

After a scintillating batting display, Portland felt like they were in a very comfortable place and knew that they needed to bowl Ashmore out to pick up the full amount of points available to them.

Ashmore started poorly in reply with Portland’s Matt Barrett continuing his fine form from the week before, dismissing both opening batsmen within the first 10 overs.

The visitors then started to consolidate, putting on 42 f the third and fourth wicket.

Gary Randell was then introduced to the attack picking up figures of 3-26 and working his way through Ashmore’s middle order.

The other two wickets were picked up by Matt Randell as the visitors were bowled out for 135.

Randell said after the game: “It was nice to get back to winning ways and even nicer to manage to post more than 300, especially after the batting from the previous week.

“Having Simon (Proffitt) back in the team added strength and depth to our batting line up and having Gary Randell back added the control of discipline we were looking for from our bowlers last week.”

Portland’s first XI are away at Compton House on Saturday where they will look to get their first away win on the board this season.

  • In county Division Four, Abbotsbury will be looking to make it a hat-trick of wins to kick-start their campaign when they visit Sturminster & Hinton.