SHROTON 246-9 (20pts) beat MARTINSTOWN 198 (8pts) by 48 runs

MARTINSTOWN fell to a 48-run defeat at the Fairfield as Shroton inflicted the visitors’ third Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League loss of the season.

Shroton won the toss and elected to bat first, getting off to a blistering start as Ryan Boardwell (69) and Mike Shepard (25) brandished the hosts’ aggressive style of play from the off.

The duo impressively amassed a century stand for the first wicket, before Chris Read (1-53) removed Boardwell, who had smashed seven fours and five sixes.

Teenager Nathan McNab (1-26) then ousted Shepard as Shroton were halted at 106-2.

Yet the hosts rebuilt through Darren Ball (47) and Marc Doble (29), although both men were victims of young spinner Charlie Durant, who returned figures of 3-57.

Durant bowled well with Teddy Andrews (4-26), who ripped through the lower and middle order to give Martinstown a chance with the hosts only able to post 246-9 despite their good opening.

In reply, Martinstown also began well as Ed Nichols (29) and Sean Williams (34) shared 58 for the first wicket before Steve Franklin (2-37) dismissed both men to leave the away side on 91-2.

Big-hitting Teddy Andrews (56) rebuilt with Sam Hennessy (33) after losing Sam Kershaw (5) but, when all three batsmen were removed by Matt Pike (3-48) and Antony Wooldridge (3-11), Martinstown’s hopes of victory thinned.

Wooldridge and Pike later combined to work through the tail as Shroton closed out a maximum-point success.

Speaking to Echosport after the defeat, away captain Nichols conceded that Shroton had batted his side “out of the game”.

He said: “It’s really disappointing because you could see how the game was going to go. We didn’t take our chances and they had 80 runs in the first 10 overs.

“We fought back hard but chances were going down. If we took our chances we could have skittled through them. It’s annoying not being able to stop that because of the mistakes we’ve made. They probably batted us out of the game.”

But Nichols reserved praise for Andrews, who starred with bat and ball.

He said: “Teddy is a clean striker but finally mishit one. He played very well and could’ve taken it on with support from the top four. He also bowled really well and pulled it back for us.

“Nathan bowled well and was very impressive. Charlie playing on a smaller ground as a spinner who’s still learning was very good to not get knocked out of the attack.”

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