PORTLAND Red Triangle captain Matt Randell is aiming to establish a brand of future cricket, as the islanders prepare to host Cerne Valley in County Division One tomorrow (1.30pm).

Portland had been in title contention but have slipped away after a spell of three consecutive defeats, which was ended at the weekend with a huge 244-run victory over Broadstone Seconds.

Randell told Echosport: “I think now we just focus on the way we want to play our cricket going forwards into next year really.

“We know that obviously our only chance of promotion is pretty much gone just from the amount of games that we have lost, so it is just about developing a brand of cricket that we can then take forward definitely into next season and hopefully the following seasons after that.”

Cattistock are currently the runaway leaders in the league, sitting 38 points ahead of nearest challengers Compton House.

When asked if it feels good to have the pressure of the title race off, Randell replied: “We can just go out and play our shots and enjoy the game a little bit more with no pressure.”

When asked if the title pressure was a factor for his side, Randell replied: “I don’t think so, I think we had lost some games before that.

“I think it was just due to us being particularly bad at cricket, especially on the day.

“I wouldn’t say that we bottled it under the pressure on our end, I would say it was more just our end, we probably didn’t want it enough.”

Portland: Randell, Leake, Jarvis, Price, Theakstone, Proffitt, Adkins, Cameron, M Barrett, S Barrett