WEYMOUTH 152-1 (19pts) beat HAMWORTHY RECREATION 151-8 (2pts) by nine wickets

WEYMOUTH recorded their first win of the season with a comfortable nine-wicket win over Hamworthy Recreation at Redlands in County Division One.

Set 152 to win from their allotted 45 overs, the hosts knocked off the runs in just 26 overs as a depleted Hamworthy side were put to the sword by Tom England (68no) and Kieron Womble (46no).

Earlier in the day, the visitors elected to bat after winning the toss but were quickly stifled by Weymouth opening bowlers Graham Puckett (1-15) and Neil Walton (1-15).

Hamworthy limped to 35-1 at the halfway point of their innings and briefly accelerated to 98-2 thanks to an 18-ball cameo of 29 from captain Matt Avery, before the introduction of Simon Browne (4-28) checked their recovery.

A modest total of 151-8 was quickly overhauled by the Weymouth top order, with only Dean Janaway (4) succumbing to Julian Lockett (1-30) as an unbeaten 130-run partnership for the second wicket between England and Womble guided Weymouth home with 19 overs to spare.

Speaking to Echosport after the game, Seasiders’ captain Browne was pleased with the manner of his side’s victory.

He said: “It was a good all-round performance, our bowlers bowled well and restricted them to a reasonable total.

“There was a period in the second half of their innings where the batsmen came in and bashed it around a bit because they had to increase the scoring rate, but it wasn’t down to any particularly bad bowling this week which was nice to see.

“We took all the catches that were presented to us and I can’t ask for much more really – I wish all weekends were like that!

“The only thing if you want to be hyper-critical was that we didn’t get them all out, which meant we got 19 points instead of 20 but that’s a minor complaint. Tommy and Kieron batted really well and deserve plenty of credit.

Teenager Jack Sapsworth made his debut for the first team on Saturday, claiming 1-22 and Browne was full of praise for the 18-year-old.

“Jack took a wicket in his first over and was lively in the field. To have a young lad like him diving around and saving runs was really good and I’m pleased that he got a wicket too.”

Next week Weymouth travel to Cattistock as they look to register their first away win of the season.

*Weymouth Seconds 167-7 (19pts) beat Sturminster and Hinton 130 (6pts) by 37 runs in County Division Six, while Beaminster 174 (5pts) were beaten by Kingston Lacy 178-4 (20pts) by six wickets in County Division Three.