ELATED captain Chris Park was proud to see Dorset reach the semi-final of the Unicorns Trophy after a game which had everything at North Perrott yesterday.

Dorset will now face Staffordshire in the last four after restricting Wiltshire off the final ball to win by four runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Having lost the toss and been put in with overcast conditions, Dorset found themselves struggling early on as openers Masoor Khan and Hampshire professional Lewis McManus were blown away cheaply with the score at 14 for two.

Michael Porter’s stay at the crease was also a brief one for just 13 but then came a rebuilding job between New Milton's Tom Arnold (69) and former Bashley man Luke Webb (47).

Webb helped put on a stand of 96 for the fourth wicket with Arnold before he was removed by last year’s Dorset vice-skipper Jake Lintott, now of Wiltshire, who had him caught by Tahir Afridi.

Arnold continued to accumulate runs, however, and the Green & Golds man brought up his 50 off 68 deliveries before rain started to interrupt proceedings.

It was Dorset’s number three and skipper Park who got the home side up to 168 for four from 34.2 overs before the rain arrived with some torrential showers leaving the outfield at North Perrott extremely wet.

By the time the ground was deemed fit for play by the umpires, time had been taken out of the contest, meaning the Dorset innings had closed.

And with the Duckworth-Lewis method in play, Wiltshire required 222 to win from 34 overs.

A blistering 113 from opener Steve Bullen and 50 from former Gloucestershire all-rounder Ed Young appeared to put the visitors in the box seat.

But after they had been dismissed, Dorset were left to defend 18 from the last over, bowled by unlikely hero Khan.

The game then went down to the final delivery after the visitors had crushed the penultimate ball for six but Dorset held their nerve to book their place in the last four, with the semi-final expected to be played at Chapel Gate on July 10.

“What a game of cricket!” said Park.

“They were flying but they were always just behind the Duckworth-Lewis par score.

“I was really happy that my mistake in captaincy actually won us the game in Mas bowling the two overs!

“He can bowl but we had been bowling him in pre-season and he didn’t go very well. He doesn’t bowl for his club side either now.

"To gamble with him there right at the end was a real pressure situation.

“It was a fantastic team performance.”