PARLEY II 138 all out (6pts) lost to PUDDLETOWN 139-8 (18pts) by two wickets

PUDDLETOWN narrowly overcame a spirited Parley Seconds side by two wickets in County Division Two, earning themselves a fourth consecutive league victory.

The win sees Puddletown advance to the third spot in Division Two, sitting just eight points behind leaders Beaminster with seven matches left to play.

After an uncontested toss, Puddletown fielded first and this decision immediately appeared to be a good one as Scotsman Rob Snow (1-20) had the dangerous Marcus Bragginton (5) caught behind in just the fourth over.

Despite the loss of Bragginton, Parley batsman Chris Baker (23) and Matt King (18) steadily began to rebuild the innings for the hosts, looking particularly strong on the back foot punishing the rare bad balls from Callum Chaldecott (0-35) and Snow (1-20).

Just as the Parley duo began to look comfortable, Puddletown received a stroke of luck as a mix up at the striker’s end gifted Puddletown the chance of a run out, which Chris Eastment duly obliged in taking to leave King stranded halfway down the wicket.

After the run out, the momentum of the game turned in Puddletown’s favour, and after some excellent first change bowling from Dave Morris (2-28) and Will Gage (1-25) alongside some brilliant fielding, Parley found themselves in big trouble at 72-5 at the drinks break.

Despite some determined batting from 14-year-old Kieran Laird (20) and Parley captain James Miller (27) who threatened with some late hitting, the introduction of Eastment (4-16) and Adam Barrett (1-3) paid dividends for the villagers.

The medium pace of Eastment alongside the sharp turning leg-spin from Barrett proved too much for the Parley tail, resulting in the Parley innings finishing on just 138.

In reply for the visitors, the Puddletown innings got off to the worst possible start, as the towering James Miller ripped through the top order with a fine display of pace bowling.

Alby Stevens (10), Lucas Allen (0), Will Gage (2) and Michael Crabb (0) were all dismissed inside just six overs, leaving Puddletown struggling on 18-4.

The Puddletown recovery came through captain Barrett and Rob Snow (22), who took the score past 60 before a lapse in concentration saw Snow trapped lbw.

Snow was quickly followed by Macbean (3), Eastment (14) and Chaldecott (0) as Puddletown still required 26 runs for victory with just two wickets remaining.

Despite seeing wickets tumble frequently at the other end, it was the Puddletown skipper Barrett who kept his cool throughout the innings, leaving him 78 not out to guide to his side to at one time an unlikely looking victory.

Speaking to Echosport, Barrett admitted his side “got out of jail” during the chase.

He said: “I think the lads all felt a massive sense of relief really in the end. Throughout the chase we continued to lose stupid wickets, and in all honesty we’ve got ourselves out of jail a little bit in the end.

“Our performance in the field and with the ball was excellent. The pitch was flat so to stick them in and bowl them out for 138 was a fantastic effort.

“It’s becoming a re-occurring theme however that our batting is letting us down a little bit, so we need to sit down as a group and address this heading into the business end of the season.”