POOLE TOWN 135 (17pts) lost to MARTINSTOWN 112 (6pts) by 23 runs

MARTINSTOWN were edged out by 23 runs as title-chasing Poole Town won a low-scoring Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League affair at Poole Park.

However, Poole dropped two points to leaders Wimborne & Colehill, who now need just four points against Martinstown on Saturday to win the league.

After winning the toss and batting, the hosts had to battle the notorious Poole Park gremlins, despite several large scores having been made at the ground this season.

Poole were initially in a position of strength at 103-3, Tom Robinson and Badrul Alam (21) doing well to combat the conditions.

But Ian Musselwhite (21) fell to Teddy Andrews (4-23) who bowled exceptionally alongside spinner Ryan Chase (3-20) to burn through the remainder of Poole’s batting and bowl the hosts out for 135.

Needing a good start, Martinstown were hit at 15-2 as openers Monty Payne (7) and Tom Pope (5) fell to Sam Crisp (1-20) and Gunawardena (1-23).

Skipper Ed Nichols (13) and Teddy Andrews (6) then added to the list of victims for Joe Wormington (4-21), the leading wicket-taker in Dorset extending his season’s tally to 40.

Sam Kershaw (41) battled on, but Wormington combined with tricky slow medium bowler Joe Wilson (3-20) to steamroller through the Villagers’ line-up.

Speaking to Echosport after the defeat, Nichols drew comparisons to last season’s loss at Poole, when his side was dismissed for 62 having restricted Poole to 133-9.

He said: “It was a really similar game to one we had there last year where the pitch wasn’t very good and we did bowl really well, bowled a lot of balls in wicket-taking areas and caught well.

“After we built a fairly decent base we were all over them for a spell, but it’s tough to get a score there. Sam did his best but it just left a bit too much for the lower order to do.

“It is disappointing because we want to become a team that will just take that kind of chase and chalk it off, and be a bit more ruthless. It’s not the first time it’s happened there unfortunately.

“At least it’s in a fairly low consequence game. There’s just a few things to learn about trying to chalk off those low chases, but again the bowlers did really well.”

Elsewhere, Martinstown Seconds 112-5 (18pts) beat Witchampton 111-8 (4pts) by five wickets in County Division Five.

Martinstown most overcome a 10-point deficit to Royal Challenger Sports to win the title on the final day.

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