SUTTONERS skipper Clive Johns presided over a demoralising defeat at the hands of leaders Poole Town before backing his men to hold their own in the top flight.

Newly-promoted Suttoners were given a harsh lesson as the hosts racked up a mammouth 370 for eight with debutant Ben Rogers leading the onslaught.

The 16-year-old opener made the most of some charitable bowling and fielding to crack an impressive 109 off just 75 balls, including 20 fours, as Poole Town went on the rampage.

And although John Beck (56) remained undefeated at the close, Suttoners, last season’s runaway Division One champions, finished well short on 184 for eight.

Johns, who took on the captain’s armband following Suttoners’ relegation from the Premier Division in 2009, told the Daily Echo: “Hopefully, this was just a blip.

“We were well beaten and Poole Town deserved their victory. They justifiably scored 370 and we didn’t perform in any department. They punished our bad bowling and our fielding let us down as well.

“The only high spot for us was getting eight points, although I’m not sure how we did because we didn’t deserve them in any way, shape or form.

“It is a big step from Division One but I think we are good enough to stay here. Maybe not on the evidence of our performance against Poole Town, but we had done well until this week.

“We gave Parley a good game at the start of the season and chased a competitive total to beat Stalbridge. We also beat Wimborne & Colehill.

“Providing we play to the best of our ability, I am quite confident we will stay in the division. We should have a couple of players back over the next few weeks and I am sure we will hold our own. It is nice to be back at this level and it was just a shame we didn’t compete against Poole.”

Gracious-in-defeat Johns also had words of praise for Poole Town centurion Rogers who received support from Martin Miller (78), while Mansoor Khan (87) also cashed in.

Johns added: “He batted very well. It was a hard and aggressive knock. Unfortunately for us, he hit the ball to all parts of the ground. We dropped him on four occasions but he deserved his ton. He batted through it and did well.”

Ashley Wallace (3-59), Chris Rawlings (2-50) and Paul McCann (2-61) were among the wickets for Suttoners, while Nick Arnold (39) and Johns (30) also made runs.

• Rob Gunn was left undefeated on 98 as Parley registered a comfortable 77-run victory over Ferndown Wayfarers.

Gunn came to the crease after Tom Jacques (52) and Raj Naik had put on 62 for the third wicket to steady the ship for Parley.

And after Naik (127) had compiled a majestic century, the all-rounder selflessly surrendered his wicket trying to get Gunn to three figures off the final ball as Parley closed on 298 for four.

Chasing a reduced target of 288 for victory, Ferndown Wayfarers were never in the hunt with both Naik (2-34) and Max Collins (2-25) among the wickets.