DORCHESTER II 258-3 (20pts) beat CERNE VALLEY 218 (6pts) by 40 runs

Martin Langford put on a stunning one-man show on his debut for Dorchester in their 40-run win over Cerne Valley in Division Three at the Rec.

The young ex-Cattistock all-rounder staked an early claim for a place in the county town club's first team batting line-up with an unbeaten 87 and then began Cerne's reply as Dorchester's stop-gap wicketkeeper following the departure of Stuart Voss to Weymouth a week before the season began.

But with the home bowlers struggling to dislodge Cerne's opening pair of Simon Green and Raj Lehal after 30 overs in which they put on 127, skipper Nick Joslin decided it was time to call in Langford the bowler.

Stu Beasley took over behind the stumps as Langford, backed up well by veteran Pete Tucker at the other end, proceeded to blitz his way through the Cerne batting order.

He finished with six wickets for just 18 runs off his seven overs as the visitors collapsed from 174-1 to 218 all out in the 43rd over.

"To say Martin had a good debut is an under-statement," admitted Joslin. "He was class and I couldn't have asked for any more.

"After last season when we didn't make many good scores and were relegated, we needed someone to hold our innings together and Martin's knock was chanceless.

"He helped us out by keeping wicket for the first 30 overs - but I knew he could bowl as well. I was under a bit of pressure when our bowlers couldn't make a breakthrough so I decided to make a change and asked him if he would hand over the gloves to Stuart Beasley and come on to bowl.

"He did brilliantly at that as well, the only problem now is after a debut like that he will probably be snapped up by the first team when he's available."

It was Langford's opening partner, former skipper Colin Edney who took the leading role in Dorchester's six-an-over run spree.

He scored 61 in an opening stand of 83 before being bowled by Mercer.

Langford then blossomed as he and Steve Clifford took the total to 221 with the latter scoring an explosive 71 that included a flurry of sixes and only five singles.

"Steve was dropped when he drove to mid-off fairly early on and he certainly made Cerne regret it," said Joslin. "It might have been different if that had stuck."

Regan Coward added a quick 22 before being run out for 22 near the close.

Cerne's reply was given a great start by Green and Lehal before Tucker broke the stand when he bowled Green for 68.

Langford's introduction into the Dorchester attack soon brought further dividends when he trapped Lehal lbw with the score on 174.

Then he and Tucker engineered a Cerne collapse as the remaining eight wickets tumbled for 44 runs with the visitors all out in the 43rd over.

REC SCOREBOARD

CERNE VALLEY

Green b Tucker 68

Lehal lbw Langford 68

Ellis b Langford 19

Baney b Langford 3

Mercer c&b Langford 8

Gallia run out 7

Warwick b Tucker 6

Barford c&b Langford 1

Cocks not out 4

Portch b Langford 4

Wall c Coward b Tucker 4

Extras 25

Total (all out, 42.5 overs) 218

FoW: 1-127, 2-174, 3-177, 4-179, 5-189, 6-190, 7-198, 8-213, 9-213, 10-218.

Bowling: Coward 5-0-27-0; Beasley 6-1-26-0; Caines 4-0-20-0; Thomas 3-0-20-0; Joslin 6-0-38-0; Tucker 11.5-2-46-3; Langford 7-0-18-6.

DORCHESTER

Edney b Mercer 61

Langford not out 87

Clifford b Portch 71

Coward run out 22

Beasley not out 2

Extras 15

Total (3wkts, 45 overs) 258

FoW: 1-83, 2-24, 3 -254.

Bowling: Warwick 10-1-76-0; Wall 12-1- 74-0; Mercer 11-4-32-1; Green 3-0-19-0; Porch 9-1-53-1.