The pack had once again been reshuffled as Dave Males made a rare Saturday appearance along with Tony Quayle, Kev Dodson and Richard Stewkesbury (relieved of 1st XI scoring duties) returning to replace the absent Bill Gates, Sam Polley and Mark Nott. Triangle were immediately at a disadvantage after Luke Heritage failed to materialise at his pick-up point, though this was hardly surprising seeing as he had been on holiday in France since Tuesday. After inspecting a good hard and bone-dry wicket (though Quayle thought it was too soft), the captain won the toss and elected to bat.

Neven sent in the ever-reliable and super-steady pairing of John Baxter and Dave Males to open the batting. Old Blandfordians opened up with a left-right combination of their own, and in the opening overs the two forces looked to have cancelled each other out. The pressure became too much for the young right arm medium pacer, who had been swinging and cutting the ball and causing both batsmen problems, and he cracked bowling a succession of wides to Baxter as his line went madly awry. Both men found that the long boundaries coupled with equally long grass surrounding the square made driving the ball to the rope nigh-on impossible. Baxter looked to be finding his feet as he started to get his pull and cut shots working, but when Blandfordians giant of a captain (in height and girth) replaced the young hot head, he chose to admire the airplanes overhead and was bowled by a loopy full toss.

Kev Dodson then joined Males in the middle, and immediately set about accelerating the run rate by taking apart the home side's attack with some crisp drives as he chased his own personal target of 3,000 career runs. The pair moved the score along steadily helped by Blandfordian's wicket keeper who made Stumpy look like Dave Blackman, as the extra's column filled up nicely. With Dodson just 4 short of 3,000, he edged a cover drive and the 'keeper lept like the proverbial cat, taking a neat one handed catch in front of first slip as Kev headed back to the pavilion for 28. Tony "I don't score runs in July" Quayle was next in as Neven looked to steady the ship.

Luckily Quayle was able to banish his demons as the runs soon started flowing off his bat, as he and Dave moved the score along with some lusty blows coupled with some equally lusty running between the wickets. With Males approaching his half century, Quayle was also nearing his as he continued to score at an electric pace. Blasting another drive towards the boundary, and seeing it grind to a halt, the pair ran an easy four, and as the fielder launched the ball to the middle, five runs were begging as it missed the stumps by a distance, but Quayle only called as the fielder backing up fumbled. Alas, this was to be Dave's undoing, as he could only manage to jog towards the bowler's end, the energy drained from his legs by his efforts and saw the direct hit on the stumps signalling the end of his day's batting.

After his performance a fortnight before in the loss to Suttoners, Neven sent in Scott Males hoping he would replicate his previous effort with the bat, but this time the lad tipped to be 2002's young player of the year, lasted a mere 5 deliveries before seeing his middle stump removed from the ground. The captain then took matters into his own hands, and joined Quayle in the middle to at least move the score past the final batting point (170) and then hopefully beyond 200. Rejecting Stewkesbury's "Big Bertha" in favour of Dodson's mighty Mjolnir, the 'skip smashed 21 runs off just 15 deliveries, including a glorious hook off the nose. The innings closed on 212-4 with Quayle unbeaten on 65, coming off the pitch to a standing ovation from his teammates, bar Rupert who was itching to have a bat.

Tea was taken, a fair tea with good cakes but a lack of savouries and tea served in polystyrene cups, probably about 3½ pizza slices. With news filtering through to the players that the 1st XI were receiving a lesson in cricket from arch-rivals Weymouth, the players were inspired to show that at least one Portland team could win on a Saturday. The captain threw the ball to Timothy "Rupert" Waight and Scott Males to open the attack, and his decision was rewarded in the third over as Rupert removed the opener with the score on 1. This brought in Old Blandfordians' classy no. 3 bat, who looked at ease in the crease, cracking boundaries through extra cover, and at times some actually made it along the ground through the thick outfield.

Although Scott was causing the no. 3 problems moving the ball in the air and occasionally off the wicket, age restrictions forced Neven to turn to the only Triangle player this season with 100% strike rate with the ball, Tom "Sicknote" Cole. His action is described by some as a "frog in a blender" but his off-pace and sometimes wobbling deliveries bemused the opposition bats, and he became the unlikely partnership-breaker removing the other opener who had had a useful and threatening innings. The no. 3 continued to punish the Portland bowlers, producing the shot of the match, hitting a massive straight six off a full toss from Rupert, that sailed effortlessly onto the Leisure Centre's roof and subsequently onto a parked car. The Captain decided to change tack, and brought on the airy leg spin of Richard Stewkesbury to replace the tiring Waight.

Still nursing his shoulder injury from the Ibberton game the Sunday before, Stewkesbury began with a gentle full toss as his loosener, but then settled into his rhythm, pitched the ball and found some turn. It was a ball that darted from outside leg across the no. 3's stumps, that drew him into driving the ball. This time his contact had a lot less of the middle and more leading edge, and the ball ballooned over Dodson fielding near point, who turned, dived and took a smart catch over his shoulder, and punched the air with delight. At this point the score climbed to 120 and the required run rate at an easy 3 an over, Neven brought back Waight for Cole, and once again conjured up a wicket as Blandfordians' last recognised batsmen went for a cut shot but played onto his stumps, and the pendulum had swung towards the visitors.

Stewkesbury picked up his second wicket, cleaning up a youngster with the wrong 'un, and Scott replaced Rupert after he finished his quota, and picked up 2 wickets for himself as the home side's legs began to buckle. As their captain began to get on top of Stewkesbury's loopy deliveries, Neven turned once again to Sicknote Cole and he repaid in kind by dismissing the big man, who was well held by Quayle at mid wicket. With one wicket left and the score on 174 with 3 overs remaining, Neven gave into the relentless pressure from the ever-enthusiastic Quayle and let the Mad Matlowe have a bowl. Many questioned this decision as his first delivery was carelessly tossed down the leg side and duly thrashed for four, but he replied with a peach of a ball that, as he said afterwards "pitched on middle and swung to middle and off", and thus claimed the final wicket and 20 valuable points.

This gave Neven's 2nds their 5th win of the season, and though they rode their luck at times today, showed a lot of character and spirit to pull victory out of the bag. Promotion this season isn't out of the question if they can win their remaining games, but it is more in the hands of the teams above Triangle whether this side is playing in Division 5 next season.