Hamworthy

L Heritage & H Potter

PRT:Dixon, Jon

Portland ended the season with a comfortable home victory over Hamworthy Recreation which condemned the Canford-based side to Division Two cricket next year.

Batting first, the visitors made good early progress through Jenkins (53) and Sedgewick (44) and had reached 81-1 after 22 overs. Runs came fairly comfortably against the Triangle seamers but then left-arm spinner Jon Dixon pegged back the scoring, conceding a miserly 16 runs from his 10 overs. Experienced duo Wood and Fisher threatened to boost the total with some straight batting but when both were dismissed, the lower order were unable to cope with the swing of Scott Males.

The young medium pacer bowled a full length at off stump and all his three victims were clean bowled to give testimony to his accuracy. Although Hamworthy's 207 was enough to gain the maximum five batting points, it always looked to be a little short of a match-winning score.

When Portland batted, openers Dave Blackman and Jason Styles approached run-scoring in a sensible manner. They carefully saw off the new ball threat of Leadbetter and Fisher and then took advantage of the later loose deliveries to post a stand of 64 before Blackman was dismissed for 33 in the 14th over.

Styles went on to record his first half century of the season and after the loss of three other wickets, Dixon played a typically hard-hitting knock to guide Triangle to a well-deserved win.

Hamworthy skipper Fisher suffered most. After bowling his first six overs for 16, he then gave away a further 35 off just 2.4 overs. Dixon's superb 49 not out contained five fours and four huge sixes, ensuring a home victory with more than seven overs to spare.

"This was a great way to end the season and showed that we deserve to retain our Divison One status," said Portland captain Simon Barrett. "It was good to see Scott Males back in the first team and bowling so well, and for the second game in a row Jon Dixon just hit the opposition bowlers out of the game.

"During 2005, we have won seven out of the 15 games played and several of those lost could have been won with a bit of luck and greater consistency. Apart from league winners Suttoners and Dorchester, who finished as runners-up, we have given every team a good run for their money. "What is required next season is sharper all-round fielding, more discipline from the bowlers and for the batsmen to make our opponents work harder for their wickets."

Econ.

3.55

5.10

1.60

5.00

8.25

5.13

Econ.

6.33

5.88

5.25

2.80

5.80

4.80