Herefordshire slumped to a 10-wicket Minor Counties Championship defeat inside two days at home to Dorset. Skipper Chris Boroughs told BBC Hereford and Worcester everyone involved had to share in the blame. "There's only two lads who were got out by good bowling," said Boroughs. "Batsmen need to bat for long periods. "Unless you have a personal game plan, you're not going bat for sessions, so we're going to find it difficult to build big scores." Put into bat on the first morning at Brockhampton, Herefordshire were bowled out for only 180 in their first innings, but the bowlers then fought back well to reduce Dorset to 145-6 in reply by the close. Herefordshire's plan overnight was clear. They needed to mop up the Dorset tail quickly on the second day and effectively turn the game into a one-innings contest. But this was not going to happen as Dorset recovered to make 281 all out in their first innings to give themselves a very handy lead of 101. Despite this, Boroughs felt Herefordshire were still very much in the game. "The wicket had flattened out a bit and, while there was a little bit of variable bounce, it only came into play at certain times," he said. "We thought that if we could bat well and nullify the deficit with a minimal loss of wickets, we could then push on and still get a big enough total to put them under pressure and get a good result." But that was not to be either as the Herefordshire top order imploded in spectacular fashion, slumping to 20-6.  | Unless you have a personal game plan you're not going bat for sessions, so we're going to find it difficult to build big scores Herefordshire's captain Chris Burroughs |
Chris Powell (27), Simon Roberts (34) and Ian Stevenson, who was 23 not out when the innings closed on 105, were the only three batsmen to reach double figures. Boroughs was taking nothing away from the Dorset bowlers but he did feel that the majority of the Herefordshire batsmen would not look back on this game with especially fond memories. "It wasn't spectacular Minor Counties bowling," he said, "although the ball did swing and seam a bit and their two opening lads did bowl well. "They didn't bowl well enough to have got us out for 105, and if it hadn't been for Simon Roberts and Ian Stevenson at the end it would have been even more embarrassing," he added. Herefordshire return to action on Sunday 6 July when they start a three-day Championship match against Cornwall at St Austell.
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