DORCHESTER 189 beat BOURNEMOUTH II 112 by 77 runs

DORSET champions Dorchester finished their pre-season preparations with an impressive 77-run victory over Bournemouth Seconds at Dorchester Rec.

Dan Belt’s men are likely to be without up to five of their title-winning players from 2021, but the early signs this pre-season are that the club’s strength in depth could serve them well.

Dorchester have also made two overseas signings in Arunn Samynathan and Gautham Rajendar, the latter particularly impressive against Bournemouth.

After Belt won the toss and elected to bat, the hosts survived the early loss of Simon Mitchem (7) to Thomas Stannard (1-14) by building strong second and third-wicket partnerships.

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Jim Ryall (26) proved a solid ally for Rajendar in their stand of 42 before the wicketkeeper-batter was trapped leg before by Connor Smith (2-32).

But Rajendar surpassed 50 and piled on 62 with Mike Peak (22) before the latter fell victim to Charlie Clamp.

Rajendar amassed 69 from 78 balls, including eight fours and a six, before he too departed to Clamp, who finished with excellent figures of 5-39 from his ten overs.

However, Dorchester then lost their last seven wickets for 39 runs as Bournemouth battled back to dismiss their opposition for 189.

Bournemouth began their chase in belligerent style with the normally economic Belt (0-26) and ex-skipper James Dunham (2-37) coming under attack early on.

However, when Dunham trapped James van Gool (27) lbw and then bowled skipper Jonny Coombs (13), Dorchester sparked a big collapse.

From 46-0, Bournemouth were then toppled for 112 all out as Dorset all-rounder Jon Legg returned fine figures of 2-5 from five overs and Peak weighed in with 3-8.

There was also a wicket for Rajendar (1-7) as Bournemouth were dismissed with a whopping 22.5 overs remaining.

Speaking to Echosport, Belt expressed his satisfaction with his side’s performance.

He said: “We got off to a great start with Jim and Gautham, we looked comfortable against the new ball.

“We formed a few little partnerships and unfortunately we fell away towards the end of the innings.

“Overall, it was good signs and I’m pleased people got runs under their belts.”

On successfully defending the 190 target, Belt added: “We didn’t bowl badly, they were a bit streaky and got away with a few.

“We knew we had bowling in depth and they didn’t have a batter that batted time. They were all in Twenty20 mode almost.

“We kept to our areas, managed to get some dot balls together and put the pressure on them. Wickets fell regularly for the last 50, 60 runs they scored.”

Dorchester begin their quest for a fourth straight Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League title at Broadstone on Saturday (1pm).