Bad time for an off day

In a game that would almost certainly determine our fate regarding potential qualification for the county quarter-finals, we headed to Broxbourne confident we could beat them for the second time this season. After the first two overs, with Alec, Will and Bradley all back in the pavilion, our chance of winning had almost disappeared.

Coby Miles and new boy Adam Bassingthwaighte batted responsibly and skilfully to stage a mini recovery, but our total of 81 was unlikely to trouble the hosts.

Sam Gardner's unplayable delivery to dismiss Broxbourne's skipper gave us hope, but unlike in our previous meeting, we failed to get Broxbourne's strong top four out quickly and slipped to a comprehensive defeat. On a night when nothing went right, our fielding and bowling were unusually slipshod, and on this form we would probably not be competitive in a quarter-final tie.

The boys are usually better than this, and it is a shame that we underperformed in such an important match.