MARTINSTOWN 159 (4pts) lost to BERE REGIS 160-4 (20pts) by six wickets

BERE Regis ensured Martinstown’s grim May ended in defeat with an six-wicket Wessex Internet Dorset Premier League loss at Lower Ashton Farm.

The two teams have divergent form, with Bere registering their third consecutive win and Town their fourth straight loss.

On a warm day, Bere skipper Brian Keegan bucked the trend of many other skippers in the county by choosing to field first after winning the toss.

And his seam bowlers repaid his faith in them by snaring Martinstown’s top four batters with relative ease.

Ed Nichols and Hayden White (both 0) were sent packing by Rich Payne (2-31) and Rob Murphy (2-45) as Town slumped to 0-2.

READ MORE: Bere Regis beat Dorchester by three wickets

The duo then knocked over Steve Gerety (11) and Will Maltby (26), Gerety departing after a sublime catch by Tom Munnings at gully off Murphy.

Before the remainder of the home order was steamrollered by Sean Walbridge (3-43), Pete Russell (2-5) and Munnings (1-15), Henry Lewis stroked a composed, chanceless 70 not out.

However, his efforts were only enough to take Martinstown to 159 all out.

And the Bere batters initially struggled as Jacob Coombs (2-40) removed Russell (0) and the returning John Stewart (1-31) ousted Rich Cole (12).

Next came the two defining knocks of the match, though, as Sam Goodhew (43) and Cam Robertson (41no) made good progress to chip away at the target.

Although Goodhew was trapped lbw by Fraser Hill (1-36), Robertson continued with Murphy (17) who was later bowled by Coombs.

Gordon Fraser added a quick unbeaten 15 and a generous 32 extras from exactly 31 overs summed up Martinstown’s afternoon as Bere coasted to victory with six wickets in hand.

Speaking to Echosport, Keegan said: “We won the toss and I got a strange look when I said we were going to bowl first!

“To be fair, we took wickets regularly. We were chuffed to roll them over for 159.

“From our perspective we lost the early wicket of Pete, but Sam batted extremely well and Cam played a mature innings. It saw us home well and I’m extremely happy with the result.

“Performance-wise there’s a lot more to come but we’re getting results and you can’t ask for more than that.”

Opposing captain Charlie Durant said: “Henry batted beautifully but we left a lot of runs out there. They weren’t exceptional with the ball.

“Four lads got out cutting to the slips or gully, so it sums it up well.

“With the ball it was one of those days again, it was cut over Henry’s head twice and a couple of chances have gone down. Hopefully next week against Blandford we’ll get a result.”

Elsewhere, Bere Regis Seconds lost by one run to Royal Challengers Sports in Division Three and Martinstown Seconds lost by 66 runs to Ashmore in Division Four.