Firstly it must be noted that Bere Regis called up Friday morning to say the game is to be played at Charlton Down, this was due to a annual 6 a-side tournament happening in their ground.
A neutral ground then for the 3’s this week, losing the toss Poole were put into bat on a smoking hot day. Openers Hobbs 22 and Pocknell 8 put on a sensible opening partnership, Hall 24 and Winwood 17 helped build to 99-4. Bere Regis then started to take wickets regularly however Beagley's 36 run red inker kept the innings together. With wickets falling around him Chakeam batted perfectly to help the 3’s to 176-9 just achieving max batting points with a 4 off the last ball. He was superbly helped by the number 11 Muskett 10* on debut, who with Chakeam put on 47 for the final wicket. During the innings Chak was given out LBW by Bere Regis’s umpire, Chakeam had hit the ball into his pad and the Bere Regis players told him to stay. A kind gesture from the opposition which we are thankful for.
After an excellent tea Lawrence Brindley (3-13) and Tom Perry (3-38) opened the bowling as the 3’s looked to defend their score, a wicket for both in their first overs got the 3’s off to a perfect start. Brindley with his left arm over bowled the opening batsmen around his legs, Perry got his first wicket through a catch from Paul Aldous at point. The next over for Brindley brought something special, being moved from his usual position of cover Chakeam took a unbelievable catch at slip with 3 fingers diving away to his right to remove their number 4. To put the catch into context, it wasn’t that different from the catch Ben Stokes took for England. Henri Abel (1-28) in first game back from uni joined the party with a gem of a delivery to reduce Bere Regis to 34-4, their captain and number 6 bat rebuilt their innings to make the game an interesting contest. With everything going his way Beagley (1-15) was brought on to bowl to keep Poole in control of the game, to keep the scoring up their captain charged Beagley and keeper Hellawell did the rest to remove him, originally given stumped but later changed to run out on the scorecard. Beagley did get another one which was cleaned bowled. Now with Bere Regis at 87-6 the game was the 3’s to lose, however a 56 run partnership for their 7th wicket gave Bere Regis hope. Tidy spells from Aldous and Muskett made it difficult for Bere Regis to keep up with the run rate, openers Brindley and Perry were brought back on to finish the job. Taking 3 wickets at the death ensured the victory would be coming the 3’s way, into the final over and needing 24 runs to win Abel bowled well to restrict Bere Regis to only 5 runs off the final over. On the last ball Bere Regis ran a bye, this did present a chance to get that final bowling point however the ball got stuck in Hellawell’s glove as they sprinted through for another run.
Nevertheless a superb win with everyone making important contributions throughout the team, after the disappointments of the last two weeks this win leaves the 3’s 10 points off top of the league. Next week the 3’s are on the road again away to Blandford, hopefully they can continue their push up the league.