WEYMOUTH 128 (3pts) lost to BROADSTONE 129-3 (20pts) by seven wickets

SKIPPER Paul Payne labelled Weymouth’s seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Broadstone as simply “a bad day at the office”.

The hosts batted first but struggled to put runs on the board, and subsequently saw wickets fall at regular intervals.

After managing just 128, the Weymouth attack had a mountain to climb. And mission improbable became mission impossible as Broadstone, after overcoming an early hiccup, successfully chased down their target with seven wickets and 17.2 overs to spare.

Payne said: “Two weeks ago we batted and bowled superbly, last week we batted well but bowled poorly and this time we didn’t really do a lot well.

“We won the toss and batted on what wasn’t a fantastic pitch but on which we should’ve still been aiming for at least 200.

“In the end Will McKay batted well to get 29 and we managed to get ourselves to 121-5. So from getting ourselves into a position where we could get 170 or 180, we lost the last five wickets for seven runs.

“When you only put on a short amount of runs you need to take every catch and get a lot of luck.

“We put one down early doors but it’s really tough when you’ve only got 128 on the board. Andrew Falloon was superb with the new ball, Dan Hutchens also bowled really well but there wasn’t much we could do.

“We just couldn’t drag it back from the position we got ourselves into. We just have to put it down to a bad day at the office.

“In parts throughout the season we’ve played really well so it’s a matter of putting the time in at the nets and hopefully getting it right next week.”

The Seasiders, opening the batting after Payne won the toss at Redlands, reached 30 without loss but then saw four wickets fall with only 27 runs added.

Payne (35) was then caught behind, becoming the first of Joe Manley’s (4-14) four wickets, with the score on 78.

Will McKay (29) and Matt Lawes (18) steadied the ship with a sixth-wicket stand of 43 but the latter’s dismissal sparked a lower order collapse.

Faraz Ulhaq, Andrew Falloon and Laurie Whyte all went for ducks and the hosts were skittled for 128.

Weymouth, needing a near-miracle to rescue the match, gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Falloon (2-22) claimed the wicket of opener Lee Hanratty (5).

And they remained hopeful after Greg Parsons (6) was trapped leg before by the same man.

However, Matt Thomas (59) and Jonathan Powell (34no) ensured there was to be no upset, despite the former being stumped late on, by replacement keeper McKay, off the bowling of Dean Janaway (1-8).

One concern for Payne ahead of this Saturday’s trip to Stalbridge is the damaged hand of regular wicketkeeper Jim Ryall.

Payne added: “He’s got some bad bruising on the palm of his hand and he’s had it for a while but unfortunately it’s not getting much chance to heal.

“We’ll look at it this week and a change may help. Jim’s fine in terms of batting though.”