WIMBORNE batsman Ben Ratcliffe etched himself a small place in English cricketing history on Saturday.

But the unassuming 27-year-old is already more worried about his next innings.

Ratcliffe was the star on an historic day's play at Colehill's picturesque cricket ground.

He smashed a titanic 280 out of Wimborne's colossal 514 all out in their Dorset Premier Division clash with Colehill.

Both scores are new Dorset League records, and both stand comparison with the best one-day scores ever witnessed in English cricket.

Surrey's Ali Brown set the first-class county mark with his 268 against Glamorgan in 2002.

And former Indian Test player Aashish Kapoor hit 300 not out in a club match for Abergavenny against Swansea in 1995.

But Ratcliffe's monumental effort is believed to be in the top handful of one-day scores ever made in England.

"It's amazing, I would never have imagined it," said Ratcliffe, a sales manager for Lloyds TSB in Bournemouth.

"I thought it could be a top score in the Dorset League, but not one of the best in the country.

"I had never even scored a hundred in the Premier League before, so I'm preparing myself for a fall this Saturday.

"Everyone will be expecting something magnificent but it was a once-in-a-lifetime achievement. I'm under no illusions it's going to happen again."

The stats for Ratcliffe's innings make bewildering reading. His first 100 came up in a relatively sedate 68 balls before he really cut loose.

Coming in at number four, he needed just 44 balls for the next 100 while 200 to 250 took a whirlwind 16 deliveries.

In total, he faced 144 balls, batted for 149 minutes and hit 40 fours and 13 sixes.

"I just wanted to make my hundred and then relax, and it worked pretty well," said Ratcliffe.

"It felt like I could hit every ball for six and I've never felt like that before. Normally I just wonder how I'm going to get a run!"

Although delighted to have written his name into the record books, the Wimborne batsman admits his heart went out to the depleted Colehill side.

They could only field seven players due to injuries and unavailability.

"There were so few of them out there on such a hot day, it did feel very cruel," he said.