CHARLTON DOWN 117 (6pts) lost to WEYMOUTH 168-9 (19pts) by 51 runs

WEYMOUTH took eight wickets for 29 runs at Charlton Down to complete a stunning turnaround victory in County Division Two.

The Seasiders appeared to be struggling to contain Down, who had cruised to 88-2 in pursuit of 169.

However, a game-changing 5-16 from Weymouth man-of-the-match Harry Mitchell sent the hosts spiralling to 117 all out in a rapid collapse.

Weymouth were asked to bat first on a green wicket having lost the toss, Jack Sapsworth (10) succumbing lbw to Mark Homewood (1-15).

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Dan Stevens (3-12) bowled beautifully at the other end but Lloyd Beals and Neil Walton (14) ground out a 42-run stand for the second wicket.

Lewis Harrington (1-36) found a double breakthrough, extracting bounce from an otherwise low wicket to remove Walton before directing a straight drive from Beals onto the stumps to run out Mitchell (2).

In response, Beals (51) showed flashes of his attacking intent with six fours and a maximum in reaching a deserved half-century.

He looked set for a big score until a leading edge was pouched by Down captain Jack Eveleigh off Nitin Joshi (2-41).

And Joshi then unleashed the ball of the day to dismiss Manoj Somaratne first ball, inswinging and darting back to clip the top of off.

At 98-5, Weymouth regrouped with Marco Nott (26) and Shafeek Urumancheri (23) playing vital innings in their 48-run stand.

Down retaliated when Stevens breezed through the tail after removing Nott, Sam Roles (1-32) also chipping in as Weymouth were restricted to 168-9.

Jack Taylor (9no) and Adam Hoyes (1no) battled well late on as the Seasiders avoided being bowled out and their defence started brightly when Beals (2-24) bowled Joshi (0) in the first over.

Nick Voss and Eveleigh (13) dug in amid accurate bowling from the Seasiders, without little reward until leg-spinner Urumancheri (2-27) spun one past the latter’s defences.

Roles (14) forged on with Voss, who calmly went to a solid half-century as the duo threatened to scamper over the finish line.

That was until Mitchell removed Roles and dismissed Roger Frapwell lbw and Sid Dunford (both 0) bowled in his first over for a triple-wicket maiden.

Although Mitchell missed out on a hat-trick, he completed his fifer by bowling Henry Dipple (5) and Voss (70) as the hosts’ chances of victory evaporated.

Weymouth polished off the tail for a brilliant win as Walton ran out Harrington (8) and Beals took a caught and bowled off Joe Taylor (0) from a full toss.

Speaking to Echosport, Mitchell said: “Sticking together, being patient and doing the basics is everything.

“Our bowling attack, when it’s at its best, is one of the better ones in the division. It hasn’t quite clicked this year but this was the Weymouth of last season and the season before that.

“It all came together and it was a really good team effort in the field.”

On the batting, he added: “There were three really good partnerships: Lloyd’s and Neil’s, Marco and Shaf and then Jack and Adam at the end.

“Lloyd had a really good knock, it’s almost expected of him now being one of the senior players in the team.

“Partnerships win you games and those allowed us to set Charlton Down a target. We knew it was difficult as the ball was turning and there was next to no bounce.”

Assessing his five wickets, Mitchell said: “This year I’ve been poor and not been at my best, I’ve not been worrying about my own game enough. So it was nice to get five.”

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