BLANDFORD 128 (4pts) lost to BEAMINSTER 131-5 (20pts) by five wickets

BEAMINSTER gained a valuable victory at Blandford after a tremendous bowling performance in County Division Two.

After losing the toss, the Beaminster attack all bowled well on a difficult surface with variable bounce and a long outfield which made scoring boundaries difficult.

Will Moss continued his good form by bowling full and straight and took three wickets.

Beaminster skipper Ross Baker produced his best bowling performance of the season taking four wickets and clean bowled three batsmen.

They were well supported by Simon Jones and Oli Bareham as the in-form bowlers applied pressure throughout the Blandford innings.

Despite three good catches, the Beaminster fielders struggled in the heat during the final 10 overs as a number of catches were spilled.

Despite these mistakes, Beaminster were pleased to dismiss the home team for 128.

In reply, the Beaminster batsmen struggled to score freely but played determinedly.

Jones top scored with 31 and shared valuable partnerships with Chris Park and Cameron Lucas.

However, after the drinks break, three quick wickets fell before Dan Spiller (23) played an important cameo to ensure Beaminster won comfortably by five wickets.

Baker said: “It was an important win for us because we wanted to pick up an away win quite early on in the season, we played really well.”

Baker had particular praise for the bowling efforts from his side, that did well to restrict the Blandford batting.

Baker said: “After losing the toss, to bowl them out for that total was outstanding I thought, all of the bowlers really bowled well and were on form so it was very pleasing.”

Discussing his side’s batting efforts, Baker said: “We had to fight hard actually to score runs.

“It was quite difficult to score with the variable bounce and a long outfield but we got two key partnerships.”

Baker had special praise for Will Moss’ bowling efforts.

Baker said: “He has only just started opening the bowling in the last two weeks but he has been outstanding.

“He is only 15 so he has taken on that responsibility and bowled terrifically well so that is really pleasing to see.”