Portland RT

Jan Davey

Profligate Portland give game away

Portland skipper Simon Barrett admitted after this heavy defeat that his side made life "very easy" for Poole by once again playing careless shots and giving wickets away. The islanders are still looking for their first win on their travels this season and Barrett was understandably disappointed by this latest defeat.

He said: "It was definitely advantageous to bowl first but we should never have been bowled out for such a low score. Once again several wickets were lost to careless shots and this made Poole's task very easy. Our bowlers were accurate but with such a low total to defend we could not really put much pressure on their batsmen.

"The challenge now is to bounce back and we are looking forward to next Saturday's home game against Pavilion Sports when we must learn lessons from this defeat."

Batting first on a wicket that gave assistance to the new ball bowlers, Portland struggled to establish any meaningful partnerships and were soon struggling. Opener Barrett (25) fought hard before being clean-bowled by Williams (2-8) but apart from him no one else really put up any resistance.

Cotton was particularly successful, taking four wickets in a hostile opening spell of eight overs. Spinners Williams and Groome, who both ended the innings with two wickets apiece, replaced the seamer and in the end Portland were skittled out in just 38.1 overs.

In reply, Poole's openers Wright (36) and Mutton (36 not out) began cautiously against the accuracy of visiting spinners Jon Dixon and Jan Davey but once they had eased through the first few overs, victory was just a formality. Marco Nott held a fine catch to dismiss Wright off the bowling of Chris Pegrum but that was the only breakthrough Portland could muster.

Poole Town II 20, PRT 0