Portland Red Triangle beat Compton House by 23 runs

PORTLAND Red Triangle beat Compton House by 23 runs to end a four-match losing streak in County Division One.

Matt Randell’s side had not won since beating Hamworthy Recreation in mid-May but set up their latest victory with a strong middle order batting performance.

Compton House won the toss, chose to field and had Portland in early grief at 10-3 as Chris Haynes (4-47) tore through Triangle’s top order.

He dismissed Randell (0), last week’s centurion Callan Laws (1) and Izaak Russell (1) to put the cat amongst Portland’s pigeons.

READ MORE: Callan Laws' century in vain as Marnhull beat Portland

Ryan Price (4) was then bowled by Alex Mullings (1-42) as Portland stumbled to 35-4.

In need of a recovery partnership, Portland duly got one as Matt Barrett and Dave Adkins went to work.

Barrett was initially the quicker scorer as he carved 12 boundaries upon passing the half-century mark, although he departed for 63 from 70 balls when leg-spinner Piers Griffith-Jones (2-38) castled his timbers.

Barrett and Adkins had shared a crucial 103 stand and the latter was next to notch his half-century.

However, he witnessed the exits of son Joe (15) and Jon Cameron (1) as Portland were checked at 166-7.

Adkins found a willing ally in Rich Samuel (34) late in the day as the seamer crashed 34 from 33 balls, while the extras column provided 43 runs to boost the total.

Adkins ended up unbeaten on a superb 84 from 106 balls, a knock containing 10 fours and a six as Portland closed on 248-8.

House started well in their reply, building to 69-0 until Randell bowled Tim Clark (34) and Jack Marsh snuck one through the defences of Thomas Copp (5).

Nic Millard (25) and big-hitting Haynes (23) both made healthy contributions but failed to kick on as Cameron (2-38) struck with a brace.

But it was here that Randell (5-43) re-introduced himself to the attack – a move that yielded four wickets.

The spinner was unperturbed by conceding boundaries as the wickets flowed, Compton’s Rob Dunning (44) and Shan Vanapalli (35) hitting ten boundaries and three sixes between them.

However, Mullings (14) and Raj Penmetsa (2) were bowled by the Triangle captain and Samuel (2-20) finished off the innings with a pair of wickets to end Portland’s sticky run of results.

Speaking to Echosport, Randell said: “It was nice to see Dave score some runs, he was looking quite good the week before but didn’t have too much time.

“Dave’s one of those players that if he has time in the middle order then he really starts to flow, so it was good to see him contribute.

“Rich as well, it was nice to see him perform with the bat. He’s always one of those players that you feel has got the ability but has never really stepped up, so that was nice to see.”

On the bowling, Randell added: “They gave it a bit of a whack, but when someone’s doing that they’re always going to give you chances and it’s about making sure we took them when they came.

“It was probably the first week where we’ve not put down any catches and we were relatively tidy in the field as well. It makes that part easier to make sure we restrict them all the way through.”

Discussing his five-wicket haul, Randell said: “Compton House is a weird place as a spinner because the pitch always turns, so that’s nice.

“But the boundaries are so short you’re sceptical of tossing it up, but I thought: ‘See what happens’ and don’t be fussed if I got hit for some runs. It was quite nice to get a fifer.”