PORTLAND RT 216-9 (20pts) beat MARNHULL 135 (7pts) by 81 runs
PORTLAND Red Triangle earned their second home victory of the season with an 81-run success over Marnhull at Reforne.
Matt Randell’s men now sit in sixth place in County Division One amid a congested mid-table.
Despite the margin of victory, Portland were in some spells troubled by a Marnhull side now with one win from eight games.
Randell won the toss and made no hesitation in batting first on a ground which traditionally suits defending a total in the second innings.
Early movement was on offer to the Marnhull seamers and opening bowler Cameron Cudlipp (1-33) made the breakthrough when Chris Theakstone (4) offered a catch to Evo Shirley.
Randell then came in and played typically aggressively, with Tim Forshaw playing the anchor role.
READ MORE: Narrow defeat for Portland at Hamworthy
Forshaw had scored just nine from 43 balls when he departed to Spencer Pearce (1-34) but Randell (77) was at his belligerent best as he passed 50.
Triangle’s skipper smacked three sixes and 12 fours before perishing to Ashley Young.
In-form Matt Barrett continued his fine season with the bat but witnessed wickets falling around him as Young’s medium pace troubled the hosts.
More renowned for his batting, Young removed Ryan Price (19), Callan Laws (2) and Barrett (33), rounding off his five-wicket haul with the scalp of Dave Adkins (8) to finish with excellent figures of 5-39.
Late hitting from Joe Adkins (30no), including four boundaries and a six, ensured Portland pushed over 200, settling on 216-9 from their 40 overs.
In reply, Marnhull’s chase started poorly when Joe Adkins (2-32) ousted openers Will Primrose (0) and Young (4) to leave the visitors on 13-2.
Henry Dimmack crashed 27 off 24 balls until he was trapped leg before by Rob Townley (2-25), with skipper Paul Woodrow bowled three balls later.
Danny Harkin (31) was in similarly positive mood, carting five fours, although his wicket was the first of four for Laws (4-49).
The Portland all-rounder went on to castle Joseph (0) and Edwin Ralph (5) but suffered the big-hitting of Spencer Pearce, whose late resistance delayed Portland’s victory.
Hammering two sixes and four boundaries, Pearce scored 38 from just 21 balls.
His innings was finally ended by Laws, with Jon Cameron taking the catch.
It was then left to Randell (1-1) to wrap things up by dismissing Cudlipp (10) and the Portland skipper was highly satisfied with a 20-point win.
He told Echosport: “I certainly feel we played a much better brand of cricket and one we’re a little bit more familiar with.
“We looked to be as positive as possible throughout – that suits us best in both departments with bat and ball.
“That helped us get going, it was quite nice to bat first as well. We’ve chased a lot this season. Some through choice with the weather, and some just losing tosses.”
Randell is now the leading runscorer in Division One this season with 338.
He said: “It was nice to be out there scoring some runs. I thought their opening bowlers bowled a really good spell, so it was quite nice to get through that and cash in from some of the change bowlers.”
Randell’s knock of 77 was well supported by Barrett and Joe Adkins.
“Matt’s turned himself into a really good batsman,” Randell added.
“I quite like being out in the middle with him. We complement each other quite nicely in terms of scoring in different areas, constantly making the fielding captain think about what he’s got to do and where he’s got to move his field.
“That’s always nice for me and him just to develop a partnership.
“Joe played perfectly down the back end. At one point we were eyeing up 250 and lost a few wickets.
“But Joe made sure he got himself going and teed off. He finished the last over scoring 14 off it to put us in a really good position to go out and bowl.”
On Adkins’ bowling, Randell said: “He’s certainly been feeling the pressure. His last wicket was Witchampton away.
“We had a long conversation with him about not searching for wickets and hitting his areas, just letting it come.
“He didn’t try anything special, just bowled a good line and length and let it happen.”
Randell also said of Laws’ display: “He said he wanted to add more than playing as a batsman.
“I feel he’s definitely been more driven since Matt’s been in the runs because it means he’s batting lower down than he’d like. It’s just having that second string and he seems to take wickets when he does bowl.”
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