BADRUL Alam starred with bat and ball as Poole Town maintained their Dorset Premier League title bid by seeing off struggling Sherborne in a rain-affected contest at Poole Park.

Alam (87) underpinned Poole’s 240 and shared an important fifth-wicket stand of 74 with Lewis Marais before he became one of Paul Hancock’s two victims.

Marais (45) and Dave Miller (48), who remained undefeated, then put on 47 for the sixth wicket before Poole were dismissed off the penultimate ball of their innings.

A devastating opening spell from James Kirk (3-8) and Tom Robinson (2-9) had Sherborne on their knees at 13 for five.

Alam then came on to break a sixth-wicket stand of 40 between Freddie Harden and Emlyn Kuhn, claiming the wickets of both batsmen with the score on 53.

And after Marais had bowled David Barnstable, Alam (4-19) mopped up the tail as Sherborne were rolled over for 95 in pursuit of a revised target of 192.