DORCHESTER captain James Dunham is mindful of a backlash from Portland Red Triangle as the islanders travel to Dorch Rec tomorrow (1.30pm).

While Dunham’s side remain unbeaten, Portland have lost all three games in Dorset ‘Thank You NHS’ League Division One.

In a rare fixture between the two sides, Dunham is relishing the challenge of taking on different opponents.

He told Echosport: “I’m a big believer that you can’t have a good day at the office every week and you can’t have a bad day at the office every week.

“The fortunes will turn and that could well be against us. They’ve got a couple of players that have the ability to take the game away from teams.

“At this level of cricket that’s more than capable of happening, so we won’t take anything lightly. That’s one of our biggest strengths, taking it game by game.

“It’s nice to play against a different team, it will be a new test and there will be a lot of players that we don’t know much about.”

Dorchester are unchanged from their abandoned game at Martinstown last week.

Portland, meanwhile, have opted to bolster their batting line-up with experience.

Ollie Whisker and Simon Barrett come in alongside Ryan Price with Triangle having been dismissed for a below-par 69, 131 and 94 in their opening fixtures.

Skipper Matt Randell said: “It will be nice to play against what is probably the best opposition in Dorset.

“I think we’re relatively confident and, even if we don’t win, we feel like we’re going to give them a good game.

“We’ll look to take it as deep as possible, it’s a big ground so if we accumulate a big score we can look to defend it.

“We’re still going to be as positive as possible but we might change the order up slightly. We’ve made a few changes to bolster the batting.”

Whisker, Barrett and Price replace Callan Laws and young bowlers Tom Hinde and Jack Marsh.

Dorchester: Ryall, Carty, Anderson, Mitchem, J Caldwell, McKay, Barrett, Richardson, Roe, Thompson, Dunham.

Portland: Randell, Leake, Samuel, Price, Theakstone, M Barrett, Whisker, S Barrett, Midgley, Mihell, Cameron.

Elsewhere in Division One, unbeaten Martinstown host Sherborne as captain Sam Kershaw returns to the fold.

Kershaw highlighted several tight, low-scoring games between the two in recent seasons and expects a good contest.

“It’s always interesting when we play them. It’s either low scoring or there’s never one team that dominates,” he said. It seems to be quite even.

“They’ve got a strong squad this time round but we’ve got quite a strong squad as well and we’ve been consistent this season in selection.

“Sherborne got rolled the first game of the season and had a good performance against Cattistock. We’ve scored runs consistently on Saturdays and evening league.

“Hopefully the batting stays strong and we bowl quite well. To keep the winning streak would be nice and we’re neck and neck with Dorchester.”

Jamie Stewart and Matt Camp also return, with Tom Pope, Nathan McNab and Nilan Weeraddana missing out.

Martinstown: S Williams, F Williams, Nichols, White, Andrews, Kershaw, Maltby, Rimmer, Ja Stewart, Camp, Durant.

In the final Group A fixture, Bere Regis host Cattistock and Symene with both sides having taken just one win this season.

Bere captain Brian Keegan knows Cattistock’s players well by dint of his encounters against them in evening league cricket.

He said: “Quite a few of our Saturday side play for St George’s in the evening league, so there is that side to it, that as much as they know our game, we know their game inside out as well.

“There’s a lot of games over the last five or 10 years. That bit of knowledge has an effect. We know they can be dangerous, so we’re not going to take anything lightly.”

Keegan added: “We’re one of the fortunate ones with three games at home, rather than two.

“You like to win your home games, it gives you a base. Then it’s nicking the away games from the opposition. We’ll go with positive intent and worry about our own game rather than the opposition’s.”

Opening bowler Crispin Brown is unavailable, so all-rounder Rob Murphy comes back in.

Bere: M King, Payne, Proffitt, Murphy, Griffiths, S Goodhew, T Goodhew, Rich Cole, Rogerson, Keegan, Walbridge.

In Division Two, Weymouth face a testing trip to Shillingstone after last season’s drama between the two sides.

Weymouth bowled Shillingstone out for 102 and fell one run short before a fractious return fixture which led to bans for skipper Harry Mitchell and batsman Simon Browne.

But Mitchell believes there will be no bad blood tomorrow.

He said: “It was a misunderstanding, both teams were happy to leave it but unfortunately it got taken further.

“It’s all passed us and last season produced two good games of cricket.

“Both sides were competitive. They played well at their place and knew their conditions.

“Then the home fixture was a scratchy game that went down to the last ball. Unfortunately we came on the wrong side of it.

“I don’t think there’s any bad blood – what’s been has been.”

Mitchell added: “I’ll be looking this week for cutting edge from the seamers. I think they’ve been under par at times.

“The batting’s been good in parts but if we can get the middle order firing we can be a good all-round team.”

Weymouth (from): James, Webb, Walton, Wilson, Womble, Mitchell, Guyett, Beals, Urumancheri, Rathnayake, Puckett, P Sapsworth, Keane.

*All fixtures 1.30pm start