North West Water's winning start to the season came to an abrupt halt at the hands of Cae Glas Ladies last night.
After the elation of last week's shock victory over The Orthopaedic, it was perhaps inevitable that we would struggle. However, despite posting a modest total of 84, we were still favourites to win with around six overs to go; Cae Glas needed 40-odd with three wickets remaining.
Unfortunately, our killer instinct deserted us at the crucial moment and Cae Glas inched home with four balls to spare. We were gutted.
Things stated promisingly. We won the toss and batted first, with Brian Cole and Rory Jones opening on our adopted home ground of Whittington. We got off to a decent start too. Brian, a classy left hander, unleashed a glorious drive through extra cover in the first over, while Rory's good form continued after his heroics against the Orthopaedic last week.
However, Brian was bowled and his father Gareth failed to hang around. Things got worse when Rory, who had raced to 17 with a succession of boundaries, was run out when our skipper Justin Evans called him through for a sharp single.
Justin - sporting very posh new pads - looked in good form before missing a straight one. Mike Stokes, making his first appearance of the season, joined Steve Daulby at the crease - with Steve opening his account for the season after last week's duck in Gobowen.
His departure brought me to the crease with the score at 40-odd for five, and when Mike was caught in the next over, we were struggling at 48-6 off 10 overs.
I was joined by Geraint Jones, and we managed to survive, taking the score to 82 in the final over before I managed to run Geraint out.
Until that point, we'd been making decent progress, even if it was a bit slower than it should have been. I even hit three boundaries in my 26no - more than I scored in total last season. Geraint batted really well for his 14 and really deserved more.
Jamahl Penrose hit two off the final ball and we ended on 84 - probably about 15 short of a decent score.
Our reply started well. I opened the bowling with Steve and we kept things tight (I conceded three off my two overs), before Mike struck and a run out courtesy of Rory Jones put us in the driving seat.
When Justin took two wickets in his spell - one courtesy of a sharp catch in the gully by Greg Stokes - we looked favourites. Huw Jones' produced an impressive spell, taking 2-7 including a smart stumping courtesy of Brian, our stand-in wicket keeper in the absence of Pete Danby.
But the last six overs of the innings cost us dearly. Cae Glas's ninth wicket stand was resolute and, despite one or two chances, in truth we never looked like breaking the partnership.
Cae Glas secured victory with four balls remaining, to leave us licking our wounds and hoping for a better performance against a new side, JT Hughes, next week.
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