DORCHESTER 161-9 (3pts) lost to BROADSTONE 165-0 (19pts) by 10 wickets

DORCHESTER’S unbeaten home record came to a dramatic end when Broadstone cruised to a massive 10-wicket win at Dorchester Rec in the Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League.

Without regular skipper James Dunham, vice-captain Simon Mitchem won the toss and elected to bat first, but immediately the hosts were in trouble.

Mike Holm (4-22) was in inspired form, bowling Quenton Miller (0) before trapping the dangerous Bharat Popli lbw (10) soon afterwards.

Pete Thompson (2-45) then bowled Eral Anderson (6) and the wickets continued to fall as Holm accounted for Dan Belt (1), while Mitchem (0) became Pete Russell’s only victim as Dorchester slumped to 40-5.

From a position of peril, Will Caldwell (67) and Will McKay (43) batted superbly to guide the home side over 100 with an 84-run partnership until McKay perished to Matt Spraggs (2-35).

Caldwell plugged away and took Dorchester to 149-8 before being the last man to fall, Mitchem’s men reaching 161-9 from 50 overs.

And Broadstone were fluent in reply, Luke Carter (83no) and James Park (51no) preventing the hosts from settling with an outstanding century stand in just 31.2 overs that gave the visitors an enormous margin of victory.

Speaking to Echosport after the game, Mitchem felt the Broadstone openers had given Dorchester a taste of their own medicine.

He said: “We weren’t at our standards. Batting first we were 60-70 runs short and they did to us what we did to other teams.

“They didn’t give us anything and we didn’t have the answer to it. No one wants to lose games of cricket, whatever level you play at. We batted and bowled poorly and were punished.”

The result, Dorchester’s second successive loss, leaves them in third with Broadstone in fourth, and Mitchem paid credit to Carter and Park.

He said: “It’s very tough to take, very disappointing in the manner we lost. Broadstone batted and bowled a lot better than us. Their two openers batted really well and a few of our guys just got really good balls.

“They were just better than us – we made it easy. Games like that get away from you really quickly because they’ve got some quality players.

“Luke Carter and James Park batted well and showed us how we maybe could’ve batted.”

Mitchem did reserve praise for four of his players though, adding: “I thought Will Caldwell and Will McKay ground it out and Jack Walklett (0-25) and Josh Richardson (0-32) played well.”

Dorchester travel to second-bottom Sherborne on Saturday (1pm) in the final game of the opening half of the season.

*Dorchester Seconds 236 (20pts) beat Sturminster Marshall 95 (5pts) by 141 runs

Elsewhere in the Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League, leaders Wimborne & Colehill took a slender 14-run triumph away to Shroton at the Fairfield.

The visitors batted first and looked in early trouble when Matt Pike (4-67) removed James Miller (9), Mark House (1) and Frank Turrell cheaply.

A century stand between Colin Randall (84) and George Bartlett (62) rebuilt the innings before Tom Caines (24) and Graham Cole (30) helped set Shroton a target of 242.

Mike Shepard began in typically aggressive mood, smacking 61 from 56 balls, and was supported by Steve Franklin (30) as Shroton reached 138-4, Ollie Woodruff conceding 28 from his solitary over.

But skipper Tom Caines (2-40) bowled tightly, along with George Bartlett (2-49) to give the Minstermen maximum points as the hosts fell short of their target at 227 all out.