With Bill Trevett, the hero against Branksome with his 5-wicket haul (but yet to buy the jug of ale for the feat), back in the 1st XI to face Dorchester, Neven gave Sam Polley (fresh from his Turkish holiday) and Timothy Waight the new ball. The pair found out quickly that there was very little bounce, but there was swing which could be exploited, and runs were at a premium in the opening overs. With Sherborne's main bat, Bob Bibby, finding the pressure mounting, he hit out against Rupert, offering up a straight forward catch to Jones in the covers, but alas the big man "tipped the ball over the bar", which would prove to be a very costly error.

Heartened by his good fortune, Bibby then set about Rupert's bowling, and even though the Captain moved his field to protect his bowler, Bibby was able to pick up easy runs, mostly in boundaries, as he found the gaps in the field, coupled with some lacklustre fielding. With Polley finishing his 7th over for a very respectable 12 runs, though tiring, Neven turned to his strike bowler, Scott Males, who came up trumps and delivered the wicket of the opener. This brought out Sherborne's veteran batsman, who with Bibby helped accelerate the run rate, though was lucky not to depart early after another fairly routine catch was dropped, this time by Polley.

This gave the batsman a new lease of life and he followed Bibby's example and played some fluent strokes as Sherborne eased past the hundred mark. Polley was once again guilty of letting a catch go by, but this time he was diving at full stretch and just barely got his fingertips to it, as Sherborne continued their assault on Triangle's bowling. Rupert's spell came to an end, as he had been very unlucky as his deliveries were either too good to find Bibby's edge (he always seemed to be bowling to that man) or Bibby was connecting with them straight in the substantial middle of his bat.

Neven turned to Jones, who this year has found a knack of taking wickets in Evening League cricket, but has yet to do so at the weekends. It was easy to see why as in his first over, Bibby gave Jones' attempted slow yorker (i.e. slow rank full toss) the required treatment, sending high in the air and soaring over the fielder's head at long off and way over the boundary for a massive 6. Both batsmen took a liking to Jones' efforts with the ball and didn't hesitate in smashing him to the boundary at every opportunity. His persistence was eventually rewarded with the wicket of the no.3 bat, when Winslow held on to a tricky catch as another of Jones' long hops was mis-hit, but by then the Captain had had enough and Jones finished with the none-too-impressive figures of 1-48 off his 5 overs.

With Scott Males bowling tight at his end, Neven gave Phil Winslow the dubious task of replacing Jones up the hill, and he like his predecessor felt the brunt of the Sherborne bats, as his combination of half-trackers mixed with the rare good delivery when he pitched the ball up, kept the runs flowing. The Captain decided to switch things round again, bringing on Bill Gates for Scott Males down the slope, with Males replacing Winslow after his four over spell, to finish off his overs up the hill. Gates struck in his 2nd over, as he lured the new batsmen into pulling the ball straight at Jones, and this time it was too hard to drop and he gratefully held onto the ball.

Unfortunately Gates was unable to pick up any more wickets, though Males removed Bryer, the left hander in his final over. Scott was entrusted with the final over of the innings, but a miscalculation by the skip, meant that he had already bowled his 12, so Polley was handed the ball. He was just as mystified as everybody else that this was only his 8th over of the day, and he channeled his rage by removing the next two batsmen up in consecutive deliveries. He missed out on a deserved hat-trick with his final ball, and Sherborne closed on 198-6, Bibby watching on from the non-striker's end on 109*.

After the Captain's motivational speech in the changing room, Gates and Nott opened the batting against the Sherborne attack, strengthened by the presence of their left arm swing bowler, Bryer. With Bryer bowling down the hill and looking to swing the ball into the right handers, Gates was looking to work him down the legside, which he did successfully for 2 runs, but came unstuck mis-timing another leg glance and was bowled. A disconsolate figure made his way back to the sidelines and was inconsolable even with the inspirational Neven trying to raise his spirits.

Tony Quayle joined his nephew at the crease and all looked well as Mark was beginning to settle to the task in hand, playing some smart shots. This looked like the start of a successful partnership until Quayle called for a tight single, but was unable to make his ground and was run out without facing. Neven sent in "Stonewall" Jones to steady the ship with his own variety of defensive strokes. Jones hadn't read the script as he got off the mark quickly, and then looked to settle into his usual routine, relying on his forward defensive. This served him well until he was caught flat footed in front of all three stumps and Polley had no option to raise the finger.

What was needed was a Captain's innings, and just like at Shillingstone when the chips were down, Neven rose to the occasion. Unfortunately his partnership with Nott didn't last too long, as the young opener succumbed to the pressure and chipped a catch to mid wicket. Rupert was next in, assuming the pinch hitter's role, but the one time he managed to get bat on ball, he was run out as Neven stood his ground. Tony Morris then came to the middle, still suffering from a bout of 'flu and lasted a meagre 3 deliveries before being beaten by Bryer's swing and the pitch's indifferent bounce, heading back to the boundary as an afternoon's scoring and umpiring awaiting him.

With the score on a very precarious 42/6, Scott Males took his guard and did what few others had managed during the innings, protecting his wicket and punishing the bad ball. With his Captain, Scott helped put together an impressive 71 run partnership, and at this point it looked as if Triangle may haul themselves out of the mire, as long as these two stayed together. Once again, Jones had not read the script, but alas this time, he was assuming the mantle of umpire. Bryer had come back for a second spell, this time up the slope, and the Captain was at the crease. Bryer had tested Neven with a couple of deliveries on and around the off stump, and then bowled a fairly innocuous delivery on the legside. As Neven offered no shot, a half-hearted appeal was heard, but that was enough for Jones who sent his Captain packing and drinks were taken.

As Neven stormed off towards the boundary, still fuming, he turned and saw that Jones was following him after deciding he had done enough umpiring for the afternoon. What followed was a torrent of abuse directed towards Jones as at one point it looked like 2lb12oz of willow may be hurtling in the umpire's direction. Once on the sidelines, with the Captain removing his pads and still continuing his tirade at Jones, who was now casually rolling a cigarette, seemingly without a care in the world, he was kindly asked to consider reading up on the laws of cricket, especially those referring to the Leg Before Wicket ruling. After being labelled a "f***ing pilchard!" by the skipper, Jones was promptly dropped from the 2nd XI for the forseeable future, now ensuring he isn't playing cricket for Triangle at all at weekends for the rest of the season (see the Bisterne vs. Triangle report, as to why Sunday selection is no longer Jones' concern).

Anyway, back to the cricket, as Tom Cole joined Males in the middle, and the writer of this piece replaced Jones as umpire. Males continued to hit the bad ball, and was ably assisted by Cole who defended his wicket well, and also had a contender for shot of the day, driving a good length ball for four over the bowler's threadbare head. Sicknote then tried to play one unfamiliar forward defensive too many and was back in the pavilion for a useful 9. Sam Polley was next up, and was there to see Males surrender his wicket tamely as he tried to lift the ball over the infield, which would have brought up his 50, but was caught by Bryer and had to settle for a career-best 46, which had been a superb knock under the circumstances.

Polley was joined by Winslow, as Sherborne brought on their young leg spinner, who belied his long and rapid run up, by swinging and turning the ball with good control. The pair brought the total to a respectable 167, before Polley called for a third run which wasn't really there and was run out by a fair distance.