CERNE VALLEY 160-0 (22pts) beat CATTISTOCK & SYMENE 157 (5pts) by ten wickets

CERNE Valley hammered Cattistock & Symene Seconds by ten wickets to win the County Division Three title with one game to spare.

Having won the toss, Cattistock decided to bat but with only 15 runs on the board, Cerne made the big breakthrough with Roger Edmunds (2-35) trapping Cattistock opener Jason Bradley (4) leg before.

Edmunds had his second wicket when Bradley Wilkinson (1) was clean bowled. That wicket brought Luke Robertson to the crease and combined with opener Geoffery Rogers, put on a stand of 53 runs, which included some powerful fours and sixes.

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Cerne's leading wicket taker, Mike Collinge (4-33) broke the partnership when Robertson (30) was bowled. Harry Angel then hit two consecutive fours before Joe Message caught him on the boundary off Simon Reeves (2-50).

The key wicket was then taken by Collinge when Rogers (70) was brilliantly caught low to the ground by Neil Kellaway. Rogers' dismissal brought about a collapse and the last five wickets saw only four runs being scored as the Foxes were dismissed for 157.

In reply, John Stiles and their vice-captain George Chubb were aggressive from the start playing some exquisite backfoot shots, which raced away to the boundary on a quick outfield.

During Cerne's unbeaten stand, 22 fours were struck quite early on in the innings which allowed for a good rotation of the strike thereafter.

With over 21 overs to spare, Cerne surpassed the total needed and confirmed an emphatic ten-wicket victory, Stiles ending unbeaten on 67 and Chubb with 69 not out.

Cerne Valley captain Lloyd Mitchem hailed his team: "We expected a really hard game and during spells of their batting, I was thinking that they were going to go onto hit 200 runs plus so to restrict them to 157 was a really good effort.

"In regards to our batting, John and George are really competent batters and they showed their class by punishing the bad balls and showing respect to the good balls.

"It's a fine balance as an opening batter about when to play your shots or not and they were positive, but not reckless.

"I am sure that they will go on and score the same amount of runs and possibly more next season."

On Cerne winning the title, Mitchem said: "Since the first pre-season session, everyone has given their all and that's all you can ask as a captain.

"It's a long season so to go out there week after week and perform like we have done has been fantastic.

"Getting relegated from Division Two still hurts so the aim for next season is to start strong and then go from there. We've got the players to be really competitive in Division Two and I hope to add in a couple more players to make us even stronger."

Cerne travel to relegated Hamworthy Seconds in the last league game of the season today (1.30pm), looking to make it four wins in a row.