Triangle's chase falters against Witches

PORTLAND RT 175 (8pts) lost to WITCHAMPTON 207-9 (20pts) by 32 runs

PORTLAND Red Triangle’s difficult County Division One season continued with a 32-run home loss to Witchampton.

Matt Randell’s men were set 208 to win but the Witches’ formidable bowling attack managed to limit the hosts, consigning them to a seventh defeat in nine matches.

Portland ended around 11 runs short of claiming losing bonus points for coming within 10 per cent of the target.

The result came after Witchampton won the toss and chose to bat first, James Firth top-scoring with 65.

READ MORE: Wimborne Seconds beat Portland Red Triangle by 106 runs

Adam Croker (39) and Sam Plater (25) also contributed useful scores as the Witches pushed above the 200 mark to a defendable total, Mohammad Kazimi taking 2-39.

In reply, Portland began typically briskly as Kazimi (18) and Matt Barrett (47) pushed Triangle to 72-2 before their departures.

Randell smashed five boundaries in his 22 until he was caught by Sean Leadbetter off the bowling of Ricky Hempstead (1-34).

Wickets then began to tumble as Portland rued poor shot selection in the face of accurate bowling by Marc Hayter, who mopped up the tail to claim 5-16 from his 6.4 overs.

Speaking to Echosport, Portland seamer Joe Adkins said: “They probably batted a bit better than us, I don’t think we bowled or fielded particularly badly.

“We’ve just come up short but it doesn’t feel like that big result is too far away from us.

“We started well again but it’s a tricky one to put our finger on. We didn’t execute our shots properly, that’s the best way to put it.”

Portland travel to Marnhull tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Portland Seconds lost by four wickets to Division Five leaders Rolex.

Simon Barrett hit 61 as Portland made 135-8, but 3-49 for Liam Riley was not enough as Rolex won with 20.4 overs remaining.