SHERBORNE 140 (17pts) beat MARTINSTOWN 130 (10pts) by 10 runs

MARTINSTOWN somehow managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against Sherborne on Saturday, falling short after having the hosts 28-7 at one point during the first innings.

The villagers had no hesitation in bowling first in conditions which offered good assistance for taking wickets.

And the opening duo of Chris Read and Matt Camp ripped through the Sherborne top and middle order, claiming figures of 4-19 and 3-17 respectively from their 10 over spells.

But, with an early finish and comfortable victory seeming to be on the cards for Martinstown, the home side’s tail wagged dramatically, with Richard Carter responding with 42, to top score in the game at number nine.

He helped guide his side to 140 from their 50 overs, giving themselves a chance to get stuck into the Martinstown top order.

And that’s exactly what happened, with Paul Hancock returning 4-34 from 10 overs, as Martinstown were rolled over for 130 and remarkably lost the game by 10 runs, despite 29 from Camp, who top scored batting at six for the visitors.

Assessing the game as a whole, and when his side had the defending champions on the ropes early in the day, Martinstown captain Ed Nichols, who also took five catches with the gloves, told Echosport: “Chris Read and Matt Camp both bowled fantastically.

“It was just high quality bowling and we really got into them. At 28-7 you are thinking ‘well what would be take here?’. I don’t think many of us were thinking of more than 70 or 80 in a worst case scenario.

“But, to be fair, other than a few spells of four or five overs where we let the pressure off a bit, it wasn’t as though we lost the plot from then on.

“We know they batted deep. There have been a couple of times this season where they have been about five down for not many and got a good total.”

He added: “Apart from the odd thing going wrong with a wicket off a no-ball and a couple of dropped chances, they just did really well to grit it out, hit the bad ball, and kept building.

“They just dug in and the pitch was always going to flatten out as the game went on.

“The chap Carter has opened against us before in the past.”

He added: “We almost got over the line but we left too much for our tail, and it’s just one that got away, obviously.”

Martinstown now have just two wins from their opening seven completed games this season.