NCCA Championship: Dorset beaten by Herefordshire by 10 wickets

It was a tough two-and-a-half days for the much-changed Dorset team at the Leaze. 

Paul Lawrence's side were bowled out for 156 in their first innings with the visitors posting a mammoth 460 in reply. 

Dorset were then bowled out for 306 in their second innings meaning, Herefordshire only needed three runs when they came out to bat halfway through day three. 

Back on day one, Will Tripcony (4), Finn Gordon (0), Luke Webb (4) and Jacob Gordon (3) all fell cheaply leaving the home side 17-4 with just nine overs played. 

Greg Willows (37), Edward Ellis (20) and Connor Smith (42) were able to put some runs on the scoreboard, however, Herefordshire soon whittled through the tail end once the middle order batsmen were removed. 

James Rudge (4-32), Ciaran Baker-Smith (3-32) and Roshan Venkataraman (2-29) were the pick of the visitors with the ball. 

Herefordshire then got off to a flying start with skipper Matt Pardoe scoring a very impressive 184 before he was caught and bowled by Henry Dunlop (1-64) with his partner Taylor Cornall also getting a century with 101 from 160 balls. 

Cox also stood out with a decent 76 from 85 balls along with a quick 28 runs from just 23 balls for Nick Hammond. 

Herefordshire batted their full quota of 90 overs with Finn Gordon (3-77) the best of the bunch for the home side. 

Dorset faced an uphill battle in their seconds innings as they came out to bat 302 runs behind and only just managed to put the visitors back into bat. 

After the early dismissal of Tripcony (0) captain Webb (74) steadied the ship with Finn Gordon (52), before the later was caught by Cornall off the bowling of Pardoe.

Willows got to 55, whilst Ellis (29) and Smith (30) were the only other noticeable scores as the home side were bowled out just two runs in front. 

Herefordshire would wrap things up promptly hitting a six off the first ball of their second innings to secure the win.