STALBRIDGE 117-2 (20pts) beat BEAMINSTER 116 (3pts) by eight wickets

BEAMINSTER slipped to their 11th County Division One defeat of the season as Stalbridge claimed an eight-wicket win to move into third place.

The result leaves Beaminster in bottom place, with relegation to County Division Two already confirmed.

Beaminster captain Ross Baker won the toss and elected to bat first and witnessed his side make a solid start.

Chris Park (36), Will Moss (12) and Simon Jones (10) all contributed, along with 21 from Tom Fowler as the visitors reached 101-4.

However, the demise of Fowler to Neil Ford (2-28) saw Beaminster lose six wickets for 15 runs as Stuart Sweatman took 4-19.

In reply, Stalbridge made light work of the chase as Sweatman made an impressive half-century.

READ MORE: Beaminster face relegation after Portland loss

Baker (1-16) and Jones (1-21) stemmed the flow of runs but Sweatman (60no) cracked eight fours alongside James Lewis (23no) as Stalbridge eased home.

Baker told the Bridport News: “It was Sweatman who was the main man, he opened the batting and bowling and did really well against us.

“In both games he’s pretty much dominated. I thought they bowled exceptionally well.

“We struggled against their openers and first change. We kept losing wickets and we were probably 30 or 40 runs short.

“We had quite a long tail which Sweatman ran straight through and then during their chase we couldn’t get him out. It was a pretty comfortable win for them.”

Beaminster turn their attentions to a penultimate game at Hamworthy on Saturday (1.30pm).

Baker said: “They’ve done exceptionally well at home and have got young players back from uni.

“We’re looking forward to our batting against them, we’ve got quite a good chance.

“But we’ve got to really bowl well at them because they’ve got some talent in that top order with two or three young county players.

“It’s quite a high-scoring ground and one of the nicer wickets in our division.”

Baker also stressed the need to take positive momentum into next season.

“Although we’ve got a really tough run-in, it would be great to get at least one more win,” Baker explained.

“Then we’re going to rebuild over the winter, there’s no doubt. We’re going to try and recruit some players and we’re focussed on getting a second team for next year.

“It would be great to finish with one more win. If it’s not this week, hopefully it’s next week at home.”

Beaminster welcome back James Edmunds and Paul Edwards but Tom Fowler misses out.