PORTLAND RT 158-6 (20pts) beat COMPTON HOUSE 154 (6pts) by four wickets

PORTLAND Red Triangle claimed the County Division Two trophy by defeating rivals Compton House by four wickets in their title-deciding clash at Reforne.

Bowling first, Portland restricted their opponents to just 154 all out, before a half-century from Callan Laws helped Triangle reach 158-6 to win the league.

The victory was Portland’s second win of the campaign over their nearest rivals, who will join them in County Division One next season, after they enjoyed a 137-run success over them in July.

Compton House’s innings got off to a promising start as the visitors reached 120-3, with captain Sridhar Ramakrishnan (40) top-scoring.

Further contributions from Chris Haynes (22) and Rich Millard (18) boosted their total but House lost their last four wickets for 12 runs as Portland mopped up the tail.

Every Portland bowler took a wicket, with spinner Simon Barrett (2-21) and paceman Simon Proffitt (2-22) the stand-out performers.

Portland’s reply got off to a shaky start when they were reduced to 20-3, losing Gary Randell (0) to a run out plus the duo of Proffitt (6) and Barrett (0) to Millard (2-23).

But Laws (55) and Ray Emery (35) helped steady the ship with a 64-run stand until Emery was out leg before to Oliver Elliot (1-32).

Laws was assisted late in the innings by captain Matt Randell (18) and Ollie Whisker (22no) as Portland got over the winning line in the 34th over.

Speaking to Echosport after the contest, skipper Randell felt the scoreboard failed to reflect his side’s dominance.

He said: “There was a lot of excitement from everyone, we did it so comfortably. I don’t think the scorecard reflects how comfortable we were.

“In terms of our bowling and fielding that was great. Again, our bowlers just performed how they have all season. We haven’t come to rely on it, but it’s been nice to not put any emphasis on our batting.

“Then for some of our batsmen to be able to chip in with quite a lot riding on it was nice. For Callan to chip in meant quite a lot to him.”

And Randell believes the future is bright for his team as they step up to Division One next year.

He said: “People like Simon Proffitt, he’ll only get better the higher the standard. Matt Barrett as well. He’s only been bowling seam for two or three seasons now.

“He’ll be able to generate more pace and accuracy. He’s a little quicker than Simon so if he develops the skills that Simon has they’ll be massive for us next year.”