WEYMOUTH 221-8 (6pts) lost to Parley 225-3 (19pts) by seven wickets

WEYMOUTH captain Dean Janaway said the better team came out on top in their Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League defeat to fourth-placed Parley.

The home side won by seven wickets with skipper Raj Naik notching up 73 not out to lead his side to victory at Dean Park.

Despite a good start by the Redlands outfit Janaway said: "The better side won at the end of the day. Our boys put in a great effort but there's not a lot you can do when Naik bats as well as he did.

"We're all a little disappointed because we feel we lost our way a bit towards the end of our innings.

"We had a couple of early breakthroughs during our bowling, but Naik is a quality batsman and we just couldn't stop him."

Weymouth won the toss and elected to bat first, the opening pair of Janaway and Jim Ryall made 60 after both being caught, but it was Tom England who set the pace for high-flying Weymouth.

England hit six fours on his way to a commanding 67 before being caught by Gavin Oldbury off the bowling of Blake.

Paul Payne also put in a decent score of 49 for the visitors, but after that things went downhill for Weymouth.

Ben Doidge was run out for 10 before Tom Steadman, Cube Whyte and Matt Lawes were all removed for a combined total of just 15.

Chris Blake taking his wicket count to three having sent Steadman and Whyte back to the Pavilion. Lawes, who faced just six balls, was run out for three.

Weymouth's two remaining batsmen when the innings ended were Dan Belt and Aussie Brett Mugridge, who themselves had only been able to hit three and one respectively in their time and the crease.

Mugridge, who replaced Michael Pearce in the line-up, did well to get a run considering he only faced one ball.

Weymouth's quest to ensure Parley couldn't beat their total of 221 started well as the visitors took 2-35.

Dave Trotter dismissed Blake for 15 following Dan Belt's catch, then Jim Ryall caught Mick Ridgewell for just one from the bowling of Mugridge.

However, Janaway's side were unable to capitalise further as Naik took the game by the scruff of the neck to get his side the winning runs alongside Andy Gifford who made an impressive 53 in just 37 minutes at the crease.

Both Gifford and Naik hit sixes, and a total of 10 fours, as the pair worked well to take Parley over the finish line.

It was an extremely impressive final 14 overs which saw the hosts hit 100 in that time to secure the win.

Weymouth have now lost ground on leaders Broadstone.

Skipper Janaway is now looking to next week's trip to Suttoners. "We'll pick ourselves up for next week and go again. We got beat but the lads won't be dropping their heads over it, we'll learn from it instead."

PARLEY SPORTS CLUB SCOREBOARD

WEYMOUTH

Ryall c Linge b Stickland 32

Janaway c Naik b Ridgewell 28

England c Oldbury b Blake 67

Payne c Jacques b Linge 49

Doidge run out 10

Steadman c Payne b Blake 4

Belt not out 4

Whyte b Blake 8

Lawes run out 3

Mugridge not out 1

Extras (6w, 3lb, 6b) 15

Total (8wkts, 50overs) 221

FoW: 1-58, 2-74, 3-164, 4-199, 5-204, 6-204, 7-213, 8-218.

Bowling: Linge 10-1-53-1, Payne 5-0-21-0, Ridgewell 7-0-39-1, Naik 10-2-26-0, Gifford 2-0-6-0, Stickland 10-0-44-1, Blake 6-0-23-3.

PARLEY

Stickland lbw Belt 56

Blake c Belt b Trotter 15

Ridgewell c Ryall b Mugridge 1

Naik not out 73

Gifford not out 53

Extras (21w, 4lb, 2b) 27

Total (3wkts, 43.3overs) 225

FoW: 1-35, 2-37, 3-134.

Bowling: Mugridge 8-0-39-1, Trotter 10-3-24-1, Lawes 10-0-56-0, Whyte 6.3-0-41-0, Belt 7-0-43-1, Payne 2-0-16-0.