CHRISTCHURCH 113ao (6pts) lost to MARTINSTOWN 201ao (19pts) by 88 runs

A MATURE 82 runs from 15-year-old Jamie Stewart helped hand Martinstown their second win of the season in an 88-run victory away at Christchurch in the Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League.

Martinstown opted to bat first, and while the top order wilted, the strength of the lower order saw the visitors to a much-needed victory.

Ed Nichols (0) was the first to go, trapped lbw by Liam Bowater (2-26) with no runs on the board, and with Sean Williams and George Pope dismissed with just 19 runs on the board it looked like it could be a tough day in store for the visitors.

However, Martinstown captain Sam Kershaw (20) and Will Maltby (6) were able to push the score up to 44-3 before the two were dismissed in quick succession to leave Martinstown 45-5.

Tom Pope (32) began the fightback, as they pushed up to 98-6 before Pope was trapped lbw by Nick Marsh.

With Martinstown at 108-8 the decisive partnership between Stewart and Coombs (12) kicked in, as they brilliantly pushed the score up to 192 before the latter was caught by Warren Bennet off Nick Marsh (3-42).

Martinstown were bowled out shortly afterwards, but with a very defendable total of 201.

With the home side batting, they had a vastly better start, pushing up to 39-0 before Ben Francis was bowled by Chris Read (4-34).

It proved a pivotal wicket, with their order collapsing to 54-5, thanks to the efforts of Read and Kershaw (1-34).

Gareth Williams was then trapped lbw by the impressive Charlie Durant (3-18) with the home side now up to 78-6, and the rest of the Christchurch tail soon followed, with regular wickets falling, reducing them to 113 all out, as the visitors claimed a huge 19 points.

With bottom-of-the-table Stalbridge losing, it means Martinstown are 21 points clear of the solitary relegation spot.

After the match, Martinstown captain Sam Kershaw told Echosport: “It was a great day out and a great game of cricket all round.

“It is just nice to get a bit of weight off your shoulders and show ourselves that if we apply ourselves we can actually get a result.

“They got off to quite a good start, they got a couple of wickets early but we rebuilt gradually and then got ourselves in a position where Stewart scored 80 with eight sixes. It was really pleasing.”

Martinstown next host Dorchester on Saturday (1pm).