HAMWORTHY REC 128 (4pts) lost to PORTLAND RT 132-4 (20pts) by six wickets

PORTLAND Red Triangle collected a convincing six-wicket victory against Hamworthy Rec to begin their County Division One season with maximum points.

On an usually soft Rec pitch, away captain Matt Randell won the toss and chose to field.

His pace attack steadily eroded an attacking Hamworthy batting order, who looked to play aggressive shots almost at will.

Bob Edwards (2-26) and Simon Proffitt (2-16) were the main instigators, with only Jack Satterley (24) able to resist.

READ MORE: Dorset's T20 fate out of their hands after two losses

Randell (3-10) bowled superbly in his seven overs and found good support from Rich Samuel (2-25) as Portland continued to take wickets.

Matt Avery’s 28 from 60 balls and 22 from Curtis Driver only delayed the inevitable as Hamworthy were bowled out for 128.

And Portland were rarely troubled in their chase as Callan Laws and Randell provided the meatiest contributions.

Simon Proffitt and Ryan Price got starts to boost Portland’s total but it was the innings of Laws (24) and Randell (64) that Hamworthy struggled to contain as the islanders coasted home.

Speaking to Echosport, Randell said: “It was an interesting game, the pitch was quite wet and not really what you’d expect from a pitch at Hamworthy.

“It was interesting to put them in and see what was a good score, that was the main reason to put them in.

“They just came out looking to go over the top every other ball, it gave us chances and we didn’t really have to work too hard with the ball.”

Randell was also satisfied by his side’s afternoon with the willow.

He said: “We learned from their innings that it was a case of just sitting in for the first ten overs then going from there.

“Lawsy and Ryan batted really well to see off that opening spell, which meant that I could come in and face the latter end of that and take on the change bowlers.

“We probably read the pitch and played the conditions better than they did.”

Portland’s second team beat Wareham by 49 runs in their opening Division Five clash.