DORSET chief Sean Walbridge admitted he was gutted their Twenty20 clash against a star-studded Hampshire side at Dean Park was rained-off yesterday.

But he was quick to confirm the Royals are keen to return to Bournemouth next year and fulfil the same fixture.

Walbridge, whose side had lost by 69 runs to Somerset at Sherborne School on Sunday, also said Sabres had given the thumbs-up to another Twenty20 contest against Dorset in 2011.

And the minor counties outfit’s management, buoyed by a 1,000-plus crowd for the Somerset match, are also interested in fixing up a fixture against Gloucestershire next term.

Dimi Mascarenhas had been due to make his first senior Hampshire appearance of the season following injury yesterday.

The Dean Park clash, however, was cancelled because of a saturated outfield at 2.15pm – just under three hours before the scheduled start.

Walbridge said: “We’re absolutely gutted the Hampshire game was called off, especially after so much hard work had been put into planning and organising it.

“We had some great pre-publicity from the Echo and were expecting a big crowd and in particular it’s a shame because groundsman, Andy Dixon, has put a lot of hard work in to preparing the wicket.

“Unfortunately, the puddles were so wet in the outfield we couldn’t take the risk of injuring the professional players.

“Hampshire coach Giles White was keen to play but he didn’t want to risk any injuries just two days ahead of their Friends Provident Twenty20 opener against Kent at the Rose Bowl on Thursday.

“The great thing is they’ve said they are very positive about coming back next year.

“Giles said if there is room for it to be put in their fixture list near enough to their Twenty20 campaign, they will do it again, and Brian Rose at Somerset said exactly the same.

“Ideally, we’d love to make these games annual matches.

“If we can make these two matches annual eventually, we’d be very happy.”

Walbridge added: “Somerset’s players and officials were very impressed with the wicket, facilities and everything else at Sherborne.

“We put on lunch for them at the ground, they were able to have a proper warm-up in the outfield, then play.

“They were very complementary about everything, so the Somerset game was very much a success.

“We got a good crowd of approximately 1,000, so from that point of view, it was great.

“Our players absolutely loved playing against them. It’s good to pit your wits against professional players.

“The atmosphere and occasion was fantastic, with Dorset’s players getting some vociferous backing from our supporters.

“Luckily, we have a very astute treasurer in Pete Moxam, who took out insurance against rain-off for both games, so, hopefully, our costs will be covered for the Hampshire match.