CHARLTON DOWN 166-8 (19pts) beat STURMINSTER & HINTON 70 (5pts) by 83 runs

CHARLTON Down’s unbeaten run continued into the second half of the season with a convincing 83-run home victory over a strong Sturminster & Hinton with some great bowling from James Pretty, who claimed 5-17 off seven overs.

There was also another half century for in-form Sam Roles.

The hosts lost the toss and were asked to bat on a damp surface.

Rain interruptions made batting difficult but Jack Eveleigh and Jae Miller applied themselves well against the bowling of Andy Rose and captain Garry Horne.

Miller was the first wicket to fall on 28, feathering a catch to the wicketkeeper for 13 off Horne.

With the score on 50-1, Eveleigh was bowled by the impressive Henry Lewis (1-26) for 17 and Nick Voss followed for 11.

With two new batsmen at the crease and only 19 overs remaining and runs hard to come by, Charlton Down had to dig deep and a match-winning partnership of 79 between Roles and Matt Stevens turned the match towards the home side.

Matt Stevens continuing his fine form with the bat taking the role of rotating the strike for Roles to clinically strike the boundary.

Roles was eventually bowled by Chris Read for 52 including five fours and a six.

With overs running out, Sturminster’s Andy Rose (3-23) returned to snap up three wickets.

But Matt Stevens opened his shoulders to find the boundary regularly and finished on 34 not out taking the lead role to ensure the Charlton Down score got to a respectable 166-8.

Rain reduced the overs to 35 and this reduced the target for Sturminster to 154.

The Sturminster batsmen Rose and Andy Beale found scoring runs so difficult against Matt and Dan Stevens that it was the last ball of the fifth over before they opened their account.

However, it was the devastating spell from Pretty (5-17) who benefited from the early tight bowling.

He claimed two wickets in his first over and another two wickets just three overs later, both providing hat-trick opportunities.

Sturminster slumped from 14-0 to 24-4 and then the introduction of spin saw Roles nip out two batsman leaving the score on 41-6.

This soon became 48-7 when Pretty picked up his fifth wicket bowling Simon Scott for five.

Javed Gill then bowled Nick Edmonds before a fine piece of fielding by Voss gave the hosts a 83-run win.