Sloppy batting proves our downfall

A much-weakened Knebworth side arrived reluctantly at Cricketfield Lane on a gorgeous summer's evening hoping to avoid a battering, but left euphoric after gaining a deserved victory.

Whether we were complacent or not, our performance on the night left a lot to be desired. Knebworth won the toss and elected to field; we would have batted anyway. Openers Matt Pike and Adam Bassingthwaighte both started steadily but found acceleration difficult for different reasons. Matt looked like he was trying too hard to play his attacking shots and couldn't find his timing, while Adam got stuck in first gear and struggled to pierce the infield. Unfortunately, the 20 over format is unforgiving, and before we knew it eight overs had elapsed with us having plodded to just 35.

When Pike skied a catch, Alex Portas strode to the crease determined to make up for lost time. His attempts were thwarted when he was run out for 13 after backing up too far, and Alec Chappell's brisk 10 was cut short by another accurate yorker as he came down the pitch to drive.

Elliot Needham ran well in an attempt to spark some life into us, but despite some clever late paddles by Adam, we had left ourselves too much to do, and closed on a disappointing 118. With our batting line up and on a good pitch, 140 was a realistic target, and Knebworth left the field knowing they were in with a shout.

We began the reply with some tight, quick bowling from Portas and Jake Morris, but Knebworth's opening pair survived some scares and began to play more expansively when Coby Miles and Matt Pike came on to bowl. Their opening stand blossomed rapidly, and despite changing the bowling frequently the game was getting away from us. Salvation appeared in the shape of Ben Warman, who followed a poor first over with three exceptional ones. He bowled Stephens, had Holman stumped and enticed the number 3 to hole out at deep midwicket, Portas taking a good catch. In his final over, he bowled with such accuracy that Knebworth scored only one run, leaving them with 10 to win from Alex Portas's final over.

With the field set back, Knebworth were restricted to four runs from the first four balls, but disaster struck on the fifth as Jake Morris sprinted in from the boundary to save a run and unfortunately misfielded to concede four. From looking like we had got out of jail, our visitors needed two to win from the final delivery. With a dot ball giving us victory and one run meaning a tie, skipper Chappell and his team mates went all out for the win and brought every fielder in, only to see the batsman club the final ball to the mid-off boundary.

It was a desperately disappointing end to the match, and unlike the Harpenden defeat when we had been arguably unlucky, this time we got what we deserved. Our outcricket was generally much better, and we bowled fewer wides (though still more than our opponents), but lax batting saw us pay the price against a side who were considerably weaker than normal.

The boys need to learn that our 20 over games now need to be played with a 20/20 mindset and that whereas a score of 100-120 was enough when we were 12, at 14 that par score has moved to at least 130. We would have scored 190 against a decent Hitchin side last week had the game gone the distance, which gives you an idea of how things have moved on.