PUDDLETOWN 188-8 (20pts) beat CORFE MULLEN 172 (11pts) by 16 runs

PUDDLETOWN overcame Corfe Mullen in their County Division Four top-of-the-table clash at Puddletown Rec, winning by 16 runs in a closely-contested game.

Impressive 50s from Adam Barrett (72 not out) and Lucas Allen (56) followed up well by Adam Weir’s exceptional opening spell (4-29) and tight death bowling from Adam Barrett (3-22) helped secure an important win for the league leaders.

Having won the toss and elected to bat first, Puddletown started slowly thanks to some tight opening bowling from Peter Fosbury (2-34) and Ben Bolt (1-24) but reached 70-2 at drinks after the cheap dismissals of Alby Stevens (10) and Tim Orford (8).

After drinks, Barrett and Allen began to accelerate with Barrett capitalising on anything short and Allen being typically strong on the drive.

Nigel Stannard (4-33) broke the partnership by getting Allen out leg before and went on to collect a further three wickets with his miserly medium pace bowling.

Despite the middle order collapsing late in the innings, Puddletown managed to finish strongly thanks to some great hitting by the tail, including a huge six by George Cooke off the last ball of the innings.

Chasing a reachable 188, Corfe Mullen could not have got off to a worse start when, in their third over, Weir took three wickets bowling at decent pace.

Weir’s fourth wicket soon followed at which point only Michael Jordan (67) was showing much resistance for the visitors.

However, he found partners who would hang around in Christian Blake and Ian Cresswell which enabled him to bring the target within reach with some crisp drives and dismissive leg side strokeplay.

Allen picked up the key wicket of Jordan and just as the Corfe Mullen tail looked like they might pull off an unlikely fightback, Andy Barrett took one of the greatest catches, off his son Adam, ever seen at the Rec, leaping backwards at midwicket to pluck the ball from the air.

After an early drop, Puddletown’s catching was very good all day and that trend continued as Corfe’s last man holed out on the boundary still 16 runs short of the total and with plenty of overs remaining.

A memorable match keeps the race for promotion alive, with Puddletown extending their advantage over new second place team Shaftesbury to 15 points. The North Dorset side have a game in hand and lie two points ahead of Corfe Mullen in third.

CONTACT ME:

t: 01305 830990

e: neil.walton

@dorsetecho.co.uk

twitter: @EchoSportNeil