Despite the best attempts by the weather the 3s game against Portland went
ahead thanks to the remarkable resilience of the Whitecliff wicket. The pitch was still soft however so the Portland skipper declined stand in skipper Hellawell’s offer of a toss and inserted Poole to bat.
Spencer and Beagley strode to the middle to open the innings and an over and a half later Beagley (1) strode back having played across the line to a straight one and having his stumps rearranged. This brought Hall to the crease and, together with Spencer, began to steadily accumulate runs and frustrate Portland’s bowlers. Spencer reached his half century but was dismissed shortly after for 52, an excellent innings on a tricky surface, his partnership with Hall worth 99 runs. Hall fell only two overs later just short of a second fifty in two games with 44 and this unfortunately opened the floodgates as Portland tore through Poole’s middle order. Winwood (9), Hellawell (11), Dykes (1), Wrigley (1) and Edwards (1) all fell cheaply as Poole’s innings fell apart due to a combination of some good bowling from Portland and poor shot selection by Poole. Abel and Brindley led the counter attack however and a blistering 31 run partnership dragged Poole towards a competitive total and more importantly the five batting point mark. Abel fell for 26 which brought Perry to the crease with Poole still needing eight runs for maximum batting points. This Perry did with aplomb, running some good singles with Brindley before hitting the last two balls of the innings for four, leaving Poole with a final total of 181. Brindley (8) and Perry (9) had dragged Poole over the line for max batting points and what looked to be a fairly defendable total.
With the 2s game having been cancelled the 3s profited by gaining their tea so a
massive spread was on offer over the interval. Brindley opened the bowling from the sea end while Perry had the unenviable task of running into the strong winds blowing towards the pavilion end. Brindley did what he does best and restricted the run scoring of Portland’s opening pair with 2 maidens in his first 3 overs. He continued this form through his eight overs and the pressure was too much for the number two and three batsmen who were both caught trying to play attacking shots. Brindley finished with 2-11-8 including three maidens and two wicket maidens. Perry bowled equally well from the other end and induced an edge from Portland’s opening left hander which was duly dropped by Hellawell behind the stumps. This proved to be a costly drop and said batsman decided to attack after that and began to score regularly assisted by the wind behind him. After five overs Perry was taken off with figures of 0-29-5, the early drop from Hellawell putting a dent is his figures. He was replaced by Wrigley and immediately pressure was back on as his first over went for a maiden. This restriction remained throughout his eight overs and it, along with the loss of their third wicket bowled by Wrigley, eventually proved too much for Portland’s opener who threw his hands at a wide delivery only to edge it to Abel at gully. Wrigley ended with figures of 2-20-8, a fantastic effort while running into the wind from the pavilion end and he was replaced by Beagley. Winwood replaced Brindley from the sea end and although there was plenty of turn he never found his rhythm and constantly leaked runs allowing Portland to drag themselves back into contention. Winwood was removed after six overs finishing with 0-49-6 and was replaced by Spencer. With Portland needing 65 off 12 overs with 6 wickets in hand the game was finely poised to be a tense finish when Beagley and Spencer began their spells. Spencer struck in his first over and Beagley in his second to remove Portland’s 5th and 6th batsmen respectively and ending Portland’s hopes of winning the game with restrictive bowling that netted Spencer two more wickets and Beagley one more. Portland eventually finished on 151-9 with Beagley on 2-20-7 and Spencer on 3-12-6, a fantastic 19 point win that saw our lead at the top of the table increase as other results went our way. Next week is Witchampton away looking for another strong performance.
MoM: Dave Spencer with 52 runs and 3-12-6 brilliant performance with bat and ball.
Poole Town 3’s 182 - 9 (40)
Spencer 52
Hall 44
Jodie Locke: 5/16
Portland 2’s 151 - 9 (40)
Adkins 45
Brindley 2/11
Kev Wrigley 2/20