Beaminster beat Shaftesbury by 21 runs

BEAMINSTER continued their stellar County Division Two form with a low-scoring 21-run victory over Shaftesbury at the Memorial Ground.

Missing several players through Covid or illness late in the week, Beaminster deserve extra credit for their victory.

Add to that, with Shaftesbury 74-0 from 13 overs and chasing only 150, the table toppers somehow found it within themselves to take all ten Shaftesbury wickets for just 54 runs.

The incredible turnaround came after Shaftesbury won the toss and elected to bowl first but found Beaminster openers Chris Park and Ben Golledge in attacking mood.

READ MORE: Beaminster beat Sturminster & Hinton by seven wickets

Skipper Park (16) hit a succession of boundaries before top-edging a pull shot, offering Sam Harris (1-29) a high return catch.

Ross Baker (21) and Ben Golledge (38) batted well together but both men became victims of swing bowler Mark Lewis (3-26) – the latter after putting on 51 with Simon Jones.

However, when Jones (33) perished to Rob Hatchard (4-17), Beaminster fell from 108-3 to 148 all out as extras (26) proved to be crucial in the context of the match.

Shaftesbury raced away with the bat and looked destined to cruise to their target as Matt Boatwright (27) and Kevin Monaghan (49) punished wayward bowling.

Away captain Monaghan was guilty of a poor shot, attempting to slog Ady Phillips (2-20) and seeing the bails fly.

Jack Ronan then shone for the hosts, the 15-year-old bowling beautifully to take 4-14 in tandem with Phillips and Baker (2-22) as Shaftesbury subsided.

Speaking to the Bridport News after Beaminster’s seventh victory of the season, Park said: “It was by far and away the most enjoyable win we’ve had this season.

“We had two pull out ill, so we lost our opening bowler and batter. We had to get a couple of young second-teamers in and five of the 11 were second-team players.

“For us to win that game was hugely enjoyable. We didn’t make it easy for ourselves. They were 40-0 off four overs and 85-1 at one point – well on the way to winning the game.

“We had to be canny with Ross and Simon and find some overs from the rest. Ady was the man I turned to. Their captain was going nicely and he decided to try and smash him out of the ground.

“All he needed to do was nudge it around, but we got him out and it was a momentum swing. Young Jack on debut was absolutely superb.

“Once the fourth wicket went down I felt we were going to win, you could see the panic in the way they started batting.”

Beaminster now host Parley Seconds as they begin the second half of the season on Saturday (1.30pm).

Beaminster could do the double over Parley after a 27-run win on the first day.

Park added: “To be honest, I’m not looking far ahead. I’m literally taking it game by game.

“Everyone seems to be able to beat everyone in this league. No game is easy. Our whole focus is on beating Parley.”

Beaminster welcome back Nick Hollely, Will Moss and Dan Hillier at the expense of Tim Hey, Phillips and Ronan.