BASHLEY chairman John Neal hopes hosting Dorset will prove a profitable arrangement for both parties – although he admits to fears over lost cricket balls.

Dorset will take on Hampshire in a prestigious T20 friendly at BCG tomorrow before facing Devon at the same venue in the Unicorns Knockout Trophy on Sunday.

With Hampshire set to bring down a galaxy of top names for the T20 clash, Neal is understandably expecting brutal hitting to be in plentiful supply.

He told the Daily Echo: “It’s a tiny ground and we’re a little bit worried about how many balls we’re going to lose – we’ve warned all our neighbours!

“But we’re very proud to be hosting the fixture. The management committee and groundspeople have worked hard over the past four or five years and it is coming to fruition now.

“We have good associations with Dorset as several of our players play for them and have done for some time.

“We’ve got to know some of the committee and following the end of their time at Dean Park, hopefully, this will be good for us and good for them.

“We try to promote the club through our facilities and, hopefully, the better they are, the better cricketers and youngsters we can get here.”