CERNE VALLEY 174-0 (21pts) beat SHERBORNE II 170 (4pts) by ten wickets

CERNE Valley emphatically beat Sherborne Seconds by ten wickets to win their second County Division Three game in succession.

After a confidence-boosting win at Poole, Cerne won the toss and fielded first for the second week in a row.

Sherborne were 0-1 after losing opener Ryan Monk (0) to a brilliant caught and bowled from John Stiles (3-25).

The second wicket fell 37 runs later with a good catch from Lloyd Mitchem in the field.

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But Sherborne battled back and the partnership of Andrew Guppy and Adam Smith put 80 more runs on to leave Sherborne on 117-3.

However, Mike Collinge (2-26) broke the deadlock to remove Guppy for 36.

The following wickets then began to tumble around Smith, with a notable contribution from Craig Kellaway with the ball (2-20). Then, when the excellent Smith was finally removed for 90, after a sharp stumping off of George Wilkes' spin bowling (2-36), Cerne dismissed their opponents for 170.

In reply, the experienced Stiles and Tom Atkinson went to work on the bowling attack.

The contingent of Cerne Valley supporters witnessed superb backfoot shots, pulling and cutting anything slightly short of a length.

Particularly impressive, Stiles showed his class and he thoroughly deserved a standing ovation from the crowd after one majestic cover drive which raced to the boundary.

By 20 overs, Cerne were 103-0 and never looked back as both batters passed 50.

Atkinson (55no) and Stiles' (88no) partnership of 174 has set an early precedent across all Dorset leagues as the highest unbroken stand as Cerne cruised to victory with nine overs remaining.

Skipper Mitchem told Echosport: "We thoroughly deserved the win and we can be proud of our efforts.

"I thought we bowled some really tight lines and did well to keep the total down, especially as their opener was in really good form and could have easily scored more than he did.

"In terms of fielding, although we did drop a few that we should have caught, I thought our ground fielding was excellent which definitely helped keep the pressure on the opposition.

"Then in terms of our batting, to knock off 170 off of 30 overs without losing a wicket is pretty special.

"John and Tom played unbelievable and they should be really proud of their achievement."

Cerne Valley host Kingston Lacy this afternoon (1.30pm).