BRIDPORT 177 (20pts) beat HAMWORTHY REC SECONDS 132 (8pts) by 45 runs

TOBY Hall’s half-century and a five-wicket haul for Alex Lee saw Bridport to their sixth win of the season in Division Four.

It hadn’t been the best of starts for the hosts as, after choosing to bat first, they lost openers Rod Gay (0) and Mark Smith (18) as well as captain Liam Toohill (10) to leave them on 40-3.

From that point, Toohill, inset, just wanted his team to see out the 45 overs and give the bowlers a decent total to defend.

They didn’t quite manage to bat through the full complement but Bridport did build a score that would ultimately prove too good for their visitors.

Hall joined Duane Gay at the crease and they set about rebuilding the innings, Hall starting cautiously with his partner taking on more of the bowling.

Duane Gay batted well for 40 and had put on 60 with Hall before the former was caught on the boundary.

The hosts then lost two further wickets for just six runs but luckily Ed Halson (6) managed to steady the ship before he fell a few overs later.

Ollie Lee joined Hall (56) and the latter continued to find the fence to take his score past 50 and Bridport’s beyond the 150 mark.

He was eventually caught going for the longest boundary on the ground and then Ollie Lee took the lead role for the rest of the innings, hitting a flurry of boundaries to take the total to 177 with solid support from Jamie Dollman and Billy Browning.

Going out to bowl, Bridport knew 177 was a very good score at Brewery Fields and early wickets would be the key.

Alex Lee bowled another devastating opening spell, picking up five wickets and taking himself to 22 for the season.

This left Hamworthy at 45-6 and first change bowler Halson kept the pressure on with a tidy spell.

And although a 50-run partnership developed Bridport kept going and Toohill managed break Hamworthy’s resistance in his second spell.

Rod Gay came on to bowl at the end and picked up remarkable figures of 3-1 which included the wicket of opener Neil Staddon who had batted bravely for 69.

“This was a good performance,” said Toohill. “We batted all but four balls of our innings and that made a big difference. Duane, Toby and Ollie batted very well.

“Alex’s bowling was once again superb and Rod’s spell at the end was brilliant.”

Bridport are second in the table, 36 points behind Wareham, and make the short trip to Weymouth Longshots this Saturday.