CHARLTON DOWN 169-6 (18pts) beat PUDDLETOWN 166-6 (7pts) by four wickets

CHAMPIONS Charlton Down completed their league winning season with a close four-wicket victory over local rivals Puddletown.

James Pretty crafted an elegant half century and he shared an opening partnership of 75 with Roger Frapwell to set up the winning run chase in the 39th over.

Puddletown were put into bat following a morning of torrential downpours and got off to the worst possible start as Chris Ascott was bowled by Matt Stevens off the first ball of the innings.

The ball jagging back off the seam to knock back the off stump.

Lucas Allen and Gary Littlechild steady the innings and brought up a 50-run partnership but the change of pace to spin saw Kim Park trap Goodchild (16) leg before with the score on 50-2.

Allen and Adam Weir batted soundly and added 43 before the talented Allen was eventually caught at the third attempt by Marc Spurway off the bowling of Park (2-23) for a patient 52 with the score on 93-3.

Park bowled with great control and extracted good spin from the wicket and was unlucky not to bag more scalps.

The patient Weir, who batted for more than an hour for his 13, was eventually bowled by Marc Spurway (1-14) with the score on 103-4.

Mike Hoffman and Ollie Thomson decided the best form of defence was attack and Hoffman cleared the boundary twice before the returning Stevens struck again bowling Hoffman for a quick-fire 29 pushing the score on to 143-5. Dan Stevens saw off Thomson for 20, which made him take the leading wicket-taker with 23 dismissals.

A couple of lusty blows from Crabb took the Puddletown score to a challenging 166-6.

Frapwell and Pretty reached 75-0 at the drinks break after the 20th over as both batsmen produced some classical drives and great running.

A change of bowling saw the evergreen Steve Chaldicott start to pose problems for the Charlton Down batsmen. Frapwell’s stay was ended by a yorker for 22 and then Pretty was dismissed for a fine 50.

Charlton Down slipped from 75-0 to 116-4 with Chaldicott finishing with impressive figures of 4-16.

However, teenager Matt Stevens (36no) see his team through to victory, with a very mature head, helped by Kim Park (14).

Celebrations commenced as Charlton Down enjoyed winning the league and promotion for an incredible fourth consecutive year.