CRANBORNE 250 (20pts) beat CHARLTON DOWN 194 (9pts) by 56 runs

CHARLTON Down were made to pay for poor fielding after losing out to Cranborne.

The Cranes came out victors by 56 runs in a high-scoring County Division Two affair where nearly 450 runs were scored but the match was littered with dropped catches by the home team.

The benefactors of the 10 dropped catches were Charlie Arnold (125) and Phil Park (64) who were gifted a 105-run partnership and enabled Cranborne to post an impressive 250.

Cranborne batted first and were soon in trouble when Dan Stevens bowled Scott Maidment for 15 and James Pretty snared Robbie Holman with the score on 19-2.

Andy Tubbs and Charlie Arnold put on 75 until a good run-out by Dipple saw Tubbs out for 16.

Arnold batted well smashing eight fours and six sixes in his 125 but the game could have been so much different if the various catching offerings had been taken.

It was eventually young Keiran Heath (3-35) who removed both Arnold and Park.

Phil Park rolled back the years with some lovely cover drives and timed straight hitting for his 64 but once again dropped opportunities cost dearly.

Cranborne collapsed from 210-4 to 250 all out with five overs remaining.

Charlton Down knew that it was important to make a good start in chasing down the winning score but within 10 overs they were struggling on 30-3 as Marc Harris (1-10) and Andy Tubbs (3-30) removed the top three batsmen.

Wickets fell at regular intervals and, at 68-5, the game looked all but lost.

However, Marc Spurway and Kim Park put together a growing partnership and at 120-5 with 20 overs remaining a surprising result was possible.

The loss of three wickets saw the Charlton Down innings slump to 140-8.

However, Dan Stevens and Javed Gill added a quickfire 28 before Stevens was caught by Harris for 14 with the score on 168-9.

Gill (28) and Tucker (8) opened their shoulders and pushed the score to 194 before Gill was caught to leave Charlton short by 56 runs and still seven overs remaining.

Charlton Down require 18 points from their remaining two games against Blandford and Stalbridge to guarantee Division Two cricket next season and Cranborne require 26 points if Kingston Lacy win both their matches one being against title-chasing Marnhull next weekend.