Draw that tastes like a defeat

After last week's horror show and the less than enjoyable cricket match in Luton, the Village were looking forward to putting this right back on home turf. However, the wheels are clearly not quite back on the wagon yet. If it is possible to have a worse taste in the mouth after a draw than a defeat then this was the occasion.

Clifton were the visitors on a grey and overcast day and a wicket still wet from significant over night rain. It was not a surprise when the Village were invited to bat first having lost the toss. The home side slumped to 57-6 without actually playing that badly. The Clifton opening attack and their first change bowlers all hit good areas and the ball was sticking in the pitch, as well as gripping and moving off the seam. Batting was difficult and only Dan Potter (27) coped well in the first 20 overs.

Andy Potter batting at No. 8, came in to join Majid Asif and slowly but surely they began to swing the game back in the Village's favour. They batted together for 22 overs and added 68 incredibly valuable runs on this difficult deck. Majid was dismissed for 36 to a stunning caught and bowled effort. In fact the Clifton catching and fielding was of an all round high standard and this also added to the pressure on the Village batting line up.

After the partnership was broken, Andy Potter continued to bat well with the lower order, hitting the ball crisply, favouring the leg side when both driving and pulling powerfully. He was last man out for 55, a score which was worth an awful lot more than that. The momentum was with the Village and the final total of 154, felt like more than just something to bowl at. It felt very competitive and so it proved.

The Clifton batting line up found the conditions equally difficult and just like the Village, they slumped to 64-6. They found scoring particularly difficult and after 20 overs, had just 28 runs on the board. Also, just like the Village they bat deep and had a lower order who seemed able to cope for a while. However, wickets continued to fall and the opposition were 9 down with still 7 overs to bat out. By this point, the Village had already spilled several catching chances, not all of them difficult. Majid Asif was particularly unlucky, having several catches go down and finishing wicketless despite bowling 10 overs for just 11 runs. David Overton in a welcome return to bowling after injury, showed how he had been missed by picking up 4-24 in his 15 overs.

Clifton to their credit had continued to be positive and look for the win, until the rate crept up to 6 runs per over and they realised the win was beyond them. So, the last 7 overs were a tense affair as Saahil Mehra in particular, probed the right lines in an attempt to snare the final wicket. The Village continued to create chances and during these final overs, two more crucial catches went down. One, was a high catch to mid off and the other an attempted pull to square leg from a deliberately bowled short ball. Saahil really deserved more than the 2-30 he picked up in his 15 overs but sadly both these relatively straightforward catches were spilled. With them went the chance of victory, in a game the Village had fought really hard to turn around after such an inauspicious start,

It remains to be seen whether the 19 points 'left on the field' will be costly come the end of the season but it certainly hasn't helped in the ambitions to start climbing up the league once more. The Village are languishing in mid table and yet are still only 35 points off top and 27 points off a promotion spot. The wins will have to start rolling again soon.