BEAMINSTER 145-8 (4pts) lost to CRANBORNE 146-2 (19pts) by 8 wickets

CRANBORNE captain Phil Park was the chief destroyer as Beaminster lost eight wickets for just 61 runs on their way to defeat at Memorial Field.

Park’s 4-20 contributed to a sixth loss in seven for the West Dorset side and helped send the visitors on their way to a first win in five in Division Two.

After Will Everitt won the toss and elected to bat, the home side made hay with openers Simon Jones (48) and Fred Everitt (32) putting on 84 for the first wicket in only 15 overs.

But good bowling from Park turned the tide and he claimed the wickets of Jones and Everitt before removing the Beaminster skipper for a duck – the hosts lost four batsmen for just three runs.

Nick David and the third Everitt in the Beaminster line-up, Adrian, would also depart without troubling the scorers but a very useful partnership of 45 between youngsters Jack Walk-lett (17) and David Percy (21) took the total towards the 150 mark.

In response to Beaminster’s 145-8, Cranborne lost their first wicket with the score on 21, Jones claiming that one, but despite some aggressive bowling, Ollie Hand took a liking to the change in the attack.

And after Dave Coy was caught off the bowling of Walklett for 24, Hand and Scott Maidment led Cranborne to an easy victory inside 23 overs.

Hand finished 81 not out and Maidment was unbeaten on 33 as the visitors recorded a comfortable eight-wicket triumph to complete a league double over Beaminster.

“Unfortunately, I was not able to field my strongest side,” said Will Everitt. “We had a number of players missing for various reasons and although Fred and Simon batted well, their skipper got on top of our batsmen and took some quick wickets.

“Jack and David put on a good partnership but we didn’t have anyone to score quick runs lower down the order, which is what you need when you’ve got wickets in hand.

“Me and Simon bowled economically but we couldn’t take the wickets we needed.”

Meanwhile, 10-man Beaminster Seconds travelled to Winfrith Newburgh and suffered their 12th defeat of the season in Division Six.

Skipper Hugh Rathbone decided to bat first after winning the toss but Beaminster were soon in trouble and were all out for 83.

Adam Raymond’s hostile bowling saw him claim 3-22 before S Pattullo mopped up the tail with 5-19. Only D Hall, Rob Meech and Justin Gurd reached double figures.

Beaminster’s bowlers struggled in the Winfrith reply although Adrian Phillips took 2-36 to salvage one bowling point for the visitors.

David Penman bowled two maidens in his 2.2 overs with the only runs conceded coming via the boundary that won the game for the hosts.