DORSET captain Chris Park praised the match-winning duo of Sam Thomson and Masoor Khan as they helped their side to a dramatic MCCA Championship victory over Cheshire at Chapel Gate.

Thomson finished with match figures of 11-67 as he helped restrict Cheshire to 157 and 137-9 declared in their two innings.

With the bat, Khan took it upon himself to chase down the 153 Dorset needed for victory, playing wonderfully to finish 69 not out from 89 balls.

Speaking about Khan, Park said: “Mas batted beautifully. To chase 153 in 30-or-so overs is never easy and the wicket had a small wet spot at one end and they had two spinners bowling into that, so it was always going to be difficult.

“But Khan and Tom Arnold were brilliant up top for the first 15 overs and made a great start.

“From then on we never looked back with Luke Webb and Mark Wolstenholme helping us to get over line.

“It was a great run chase.”

Helping with the ball was Thomson who bowled well in both innings to set up the successful chase.

Park added: “He’s been with the Minor Counties side for three or four years and that’s his first ever championship five-fer.

“He was really pleased to get that in the first innings and then to back that up later in the game was great. He bowled beautifully.

“That’s the sort of standard we want from him, economically he was fantastic and he caused a threat to all of the batsmen.

“In the field we were excellent. We took some good catches and that was really pleasing.”

Going into the final day, the draw seemed the likeliest result with the hosts still batting in their first innings and with nine wickets remaining.

Over the course of the day, 19 wickets fell and both captains declared as they chased a win.

Surprisingly, both captains didn’t talk about making a game of it.

“At no stage did we agree on setting a game up,” explained Park.

“I know both captains declared, but that was to keep the game moving forward.

“Declaring when we did allowed the sides to gain overs back.

“And the fact the game went down to the last two overs,

meant it was good game of cricket.”

Up next for Dorset is a three-day game against Herefordshire at North Perrott, starting on Sunday, July 3.

Chapel Gate will host Dorset’s Knockout Trophy semi-final on between against Staffordshire on Sunday, July 10 as North Perrott is hosting a village fete.