Twenty runs short... the story of our season

As you can probably gather from the heading, we lost, this time to Shropshire Health Authority - and again it was our batting that let us down.

Skipper Justin Evans summed things up when he said: "Twenty runs short - that's the story of our season." On this occasion we bowled first against a strong SHA side on a pudding of a pitch at Whittington that offered plenty in the way of variable bounce.

We started off pretty well. I opened the bowling and despite figures of 0-12 off my two overs, I wasn't too unhappy with my performance as one of the two boundaries I conceded was very nearly caught at slip by a stretching Dave Ryder.

With Gareth Cole also opening the bowling, we kept the scoring rate down before Geraint Jones removed one of the opening pair and Matt Daulby weighed in with two wickets courtesy of brilliant catches at point from Justin - the first of which he managed to juggle first before hanging on. Rory Jones again produced a quick spell which helped keep a lid on the scoring rate.

The visitors reached 53 at the halfway point of their innings and, with Brian Cole bowling superbly - and picking up a wicket - we managed to restrict them to 101 off their 20 overs. Credit should be given to Dave Ryder, who bowled the final over, kept it tight and picked up a wicket despite having an achilles injury.

Our reply got off to a fine start, with father and son Brian and Gareth reaching 30 without loss off five overs, before Brian was given out lbw in what looked a pretty harsh decision. Gareth moved to 18 before getting out and North West Water's mid-order collapse had begun.

Matt Daulby departed for six while Justin, after playing a few meaty blows, was bowled by one that kept very low. We were still in at after 10 overs - 43 for four - but the regular loss of wickets meant we fell well behind the asking rate as the innings progressed.

I went in at number seven but we continued to lose wickets and ended on 85 for nine, 17 runs short of victory. It was disappointing and I was frustrated with my batting again, failing to hit a boundary despite my best endeavours (I fininshed on 11no). Ultimately, we needed a few big blows in the closes stages which I just couldn't provide.

Anyway, we'll be looking to get back to winning ways against Cae Glas next week. Hopefully we won't end up 20 runs short...

Gardening or cricket... that's the question

Well, our scheduled match against JT Hughes at Whittington on Wednesday failed to materialise after the opposition failed to raise a side.

So we decided instead to organise a practice match involving as many of our own players as possible. In the event, 10 of us turned up and we enjoyed a decent night's cricket.

There was, however, one very notable absentee: Steve Daulby, who chose to garden - that's right, garden - rather than play cricket. Now I'm all for gardening, it's almost certainly the new rock and roll, but in a choice between cricket and gardening there can only ever be one winner. And it's definitely not gardening.

Thankfully I'm not North West Water's skipper, but I'm sure Justin will want to sit down with Mr Daulby and have a serious chat about his commitment to the sport. If you think Andrew Symmonds has problems...

Anyway, as for the game itself, we batted in pairs for eight overs. Top score when to father and son duo Huw and Rory Jones, with Rory displaying some very imaginative shots in a swashbuckling performance. They waltzed their way to a total of 60, beating mine and Dave Ryder's 57, the next best score. As you can imagine, any partnership that involves me is somewhat more sedate, but Dave showed a more flamboyant side to his batting, unleashing a series of fine straight drives.

Other highlights included Brian Cole's return - and a fine spell as wicketkeeper which resulted in half a dozen stumpings courtesy of Dale Penrose's willingness to charge down the wicket. Justin batted with his usual aggression and struck some meaty blows in his innings, while I committed the cardinal sin, dropping a sitter after Geraint Jones - who bowled very impressively - failed to connect properly with one of his brother's rapid deliveries.

Speaking of Rory, I faced him during my innings and I can confirm that he's developing into a very nippy bowler indeed; it bodes well for the future of North West Water.

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and useful evening. It's just a shame Mr Daulby couldn't join us...