CRICKET: Bat's the way for county skipper Joe (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

CRICKET: Bat's the way for county skipper Joe

1:00pm Friday 8th June 2012 in Sport By Dan Barnes

WILTSHIRE captain Joe Breet reckoned there was plenty to shout about for the county side, despite their first MCCA championship game of the season being decided by the elements.

Wiltshire led Dorset by nine runs after the first innings in Bournemouth and after reaching 132-5 in their second innings, rain washed out the final day’s play on Tuesday, with the match endning in a draw.

The county side have been keen to stress the importance of batting the full 90 overs of their first innings and Breet was particularly pleased with the performance of his batsmen, who narrowly missed out on maximum batting points by four runs.

“It was a shame that we couldn’t play the rest of the game because I thought we were in the box seat but we still played well and only missed out on one bonus point,” said the Wiltshire skipper.

“Richie Underdown came in for his debut and got 91, which was great. He batted patiently and it was a shame he didn’t go on to get his century but I’m sure he will in the future.

“Ed Kilbee, Steve Bullen and Henry Langford all batted well too and we went about the game the right way.

“We’ve tried to keep the same side that has been playing in the one-day games because we want continuity with the players who are playing well staying in the team.

“It was a good start for us and we’re now just really looking forward to the quarter-final of the knockout cup (against Devon on June 17).”

Wiltshire won the toss and got off to a good start as Ed Kilbee (51) and Underdown (91) put on 95 for the first wicket.

When Kilbee was out, Steve Bullen (65) joined Underdown and they put on 121 for the 2nd wicket, with Breet (40), and Henry Langford (30) chipping in on their way to 321-6 after the first 90 overs.

For Dorset, both Tom Barlow and Scott Hicks took two wickets each.

Dorset had reached 81-2 by the close of the first day but Wiltshire took early wickets early on Monday and had reduced Dorset to 119-5.

Tom Hicks’ 65 and Chirs Park’s 50 for the hosts saw them eventually reach 312-9, with Wiltshire’s Mukesh Bhatt taking three wickets.

Langford reached an unbeaten 46 while Underdown made 32 in Breet’s side’s second innings before the rain saw off the contest.