DORSET were dumped out of the Unicorns Trophy at the preliminary round stage following a seven-wicket defeat by Cornwall at North Perrott on Sunday.

Cornwall elected to field first and restricted Dorset to a modest 155 for nine from their allotted 50 overs with Somerset's Peter Trego claiming three for 12 from his 10 overs.

Despite Trego's Somerset colleague Max Waller taking two for 28, Dorset were never in the hunt as Matt Rowe (53) remained undefeated and knocked off the winning runs with 13.4 overs in hand.

Dorset got off to a shaky start as all-rounder Trego caused havoc in the hosts' top order, reducing Jigar Naik's men to 50 for four after removing Luke Webb, Waller and Ed Ellis.

Bashley's Josh Digby (35) top-scored for the hosts after rebuilding with Alex Eckland (19), their stand of 31 the highest of Dorset's innings.

When Eckland was removed by Lewis Goldsworthy (1-17), Digby provided late resistance with opener Ben Walker (30), who had earlier gone off injured.

Mark Wolstenholme (13) and Scott Currie (15no) further boosted the total as Dorset set a target of 156 for their south west rivals.

Cornwall started brightly but lost Sam Wood (30) to Brad Currie (1-26) before a 94-run stand for the second wicket between brothers Matt and Thomas Rowe (47) broke the back of the visitors' run chase.

Waller rallied to take a late brace from his 10 overs, including team-mate Trego but the hosts eventually succumbed.

Next up for Dorset is a Unicorns T20 double-header against Wiltshire at Bashley on Sunday (11am).

n Meanwhile, Bashley clung on to beat Portsmouth by five runs in an ECB Royal London national club championship first round tie that reached an improbable nailbiting climax in the gathering New Forest gloom.

Defending 179 for five, Bashley looked home and dry after a three-wicket spell by Bournemouth University all-rounder Tim Taylor (3-35) had left Portsmouth struggling at 62 for six (Ben Duggan 24).

But Asad Abbas, who has just joined Portsmouth from Fair Oak, hit a fierce run-a-ball 40 to put the visitors back in the reckoning.

With Portsmouth Grammar School captain Jo Kooner-Evans (16) in support, the pair turned the tide, leaving Abbas’s teenage son Monam licence to hit out in the closing overs.

The spin all-rounder followed in his father’s footsteps, hitting two big sixes and, with Reuben McArdle (19), eased Portsmouth to within 21 runs of victory off Patrick Holly’s final over.

He swatted the spinner’s first ball for six and plundered more runs to take Portsmouth to within a six-hit of victory off the final ball.

To Bashley’s relief, Holly (2-41) kept his cool, Abbas missing the ball and being stumped by Chris Ridley to leave Portsmouth five short at 174 for nine.

Earlier, university media student Taylor had underlined his potential with a classy 49 for Bashley.

Fellow newcomers Daniel Andrew (24) and teenager Greg Havard (30) helped Bashley to 133 for two (Mitch Wilson 21) before Holly hit an important and unbeaten 23 to take the hosts to a competitive total.