SKIPPER Martin Miller felt losing the toss had been a key factor as Bournemouth were quite literally sent spinning to defeat by Division One rivals Rowledge.

Bournemouth, chasing the Surrey-Hampshire border club’s respectable 194, lost all 10 of their wickets to spin at the Recreation Ground on School Lane.

Youngsters Dom Clutterbuck (3-31), Jem Warner (3-45) and Rob Pack (1-35) also profited from a turning pitch, while Andrew Woodward (2-34) and Elliot Guest (1-22) were among the wickets for Bournemouth.

But they were upstaged as Rowledge made the most of a drying surface with spinners Sushant Balajee (4-27), David Lloyd (3-17) and George Keeley (3-19) combining to shoot out the Lions for just 93.

It would have been worse but for modest contributions from Ben Bridgen (20) and Pack (23), while Bournemouth also sent down no fewer than 25 wides in the Rowledge innings.

Captain Miller, who has presided over back-to-back defeats following an opening-day victory over OTs & Romsey, said: “The wicket was very dry and didn’t look as though it was going to last 100 overs – and it didn’t.

"I thought the side batting second were always going to have a tough task and, sure enough, we did.

“I didn’t think we bowled particularly well but we lost because we didn’t get enough runs. We gave away 25 wides, which wasn’t great, we weren’t that wonderful in the field so it really didn’t go well in all departments.

“Having seen the wicket, we would have batted first. It spun sharply and bounced and, when you have balls hitting gloves inside the first 10 overs of the second innings, it gets into the mind of batsmen and you don’t get any confidence to play shots. It was difficult to bat on.”

Miller added: “After three overs of pace at one end, they brought on a spinner because that was basically what the pitch was suited to.

“Our spinners didn’t extract as much turn as theirs, probably because the pitch wasn’t as old. But as a batting unit, we are clearly going to have to play spin better than we did at Rowledge, although I felt the pitch had a large part to play.”

  • Lymington were left kicking themselves after throwing away an opportunity to lower the colours of champions South Wilts at the Sports Ground.

Spinner Dom Hand (5-49) took the bowling plaudits as Lymington restricted South Wilts to a modest 213 for nine from their 50 overs.

After Matt Metcalfe (2-42) and Ed Freeman (1-27) had reduced the visitors to 57 for three, Hand came on to break a fourth-wicket partnership of 72 between James Hayward and Joe Cranch.

It owed much to a stunning catch in the deep by Cameron Grierson who superbly pouched Hayward (49) after he had attempted a reverse sweep to a delivery from Hand.

Hand also accounted for Cranch (33) and was assisted by Richie Lock (1-42) as Lymington kept South Wilts in check.

A tidy opening spell between Steve Warner and James Hibberd put Lymington behind the clock early on and their cause was not helped when Ryan Scott was forced to retire after damaging his groin taking a quick single, the Dorset man returning later to bat with a runner.

His enforced departure saw Ed Ellis (40) join Lewis McManus (56) at the crease, the pair guiding Lymington to 114 for two.

They were still well in the driving seat at 164 for four when McManus holed out to Luke Evans off the bowling of Jack Mynott (4-41).

Oliver Calcott and Chris Blake quickly followed and, although Simon Beetham (26) remained undefeated at the close, the collapse ensured Lymington would fall 10 runs short.

  • Geoff Dods hit his third successive half-century and Dan Stancliffe took another five-wicket haul as Burridge extended their flying start with a narrow eight-run win over New Milton.

When last year’s Division One champions cruised to 109 for one in their quest to overhaul a relatively-modest Burridge total of 197 for seven, the final outcome seemed improbable.

But the Green & Golds collapsed against Stancliffe (5-38) who claimed his third five-wicket haul of the season.

All the good work by opener Tom Arnold (49) and Nick Park was undone when Stancliffe blasted out four batsmen for eight runs as Milton tumbled to 117 for five.

Park’s battling 68 kept New Milton in the hunt and, after a flurry by Dan Loader (15), the visitors were back in it at 187 for seven, only for the pair to fall within two runs of each other in the final over as they closed at 189 for nine.

  • Bashley were on the receiving end of a five-wicket defeat at Alton – despite posting an impressive 245 for eight thanks largely to Gavin Bailiff.

Bailiff (93) hit 10 fours and three sixes in his 121-ball stay and received solid support from Chris Ridley (50) and Tom Jacques (29) as Bashley set Alton a decent target.

However, the hosts made light work of their reply with Scott Myers (67) and Dan Hutton (63) sharing 125 for the first wicket as they eased to 249 for five with 16 balls to spare.