DROITWICH skipper Martyn Davies put Saturday’s defeat to Worcester in Division One of the Worcestershire County League down to the lack of a fifth bowler.
Davies’ side have now lost three on the bounce and have since slipped into the relegation zone following their 60-run loss at the Gordon Jones Memorial Ground.
After winning the toss and electing to field, Droitwich seemed to have the better of the early exchanges as Max Young (2-49) and Phil Thomas gave the visitors the upper hand.
With Worcester at 50-3, a fourth-wicket stand between Mohammed Adeel (23) and Ian Cottril (45) swung the momentum the home side’s way.
Droitwich’s hopes of keeping the score below 200 were dashed when Chris Steele hit to help his side towards 251-9 from their 50 overs.
However, the reply from Davies’ side lacked cutting edge as with just 12 runs on the board, they lost three wickets.
Jordan Renau (42) and Paul Bryan (21) recovered the innings for Spa but they were eventually bowled out for 199.
Phil Thomas (25), Carl Thomson (22 no) and Jack Eaton (14) pushed the score along for Droitwich while Rob Goodman (2-33), Adeel (2-18) and Fabian Allen (2-18) got a share of the wickets in Worcester’s victory
Davies said: “The batting improved from last week and the performance was better. Not having a fifth bowler helped Worcester pile on 60 runs which they should not have and it cost us.
“There’s certainly some confidence lacking in the squad at the moment but cricket is one those games where you can get a bit of bad luck.
“We realised last season after finishing third that a lot of things went our way. We played good cricket but there’s no guarantees this year.”
Droitwich will look to end their poor run of form on Saturday as they welcome Pedmore to St Peter’s Fields.
Davies is boosted by the returns of Gary Cartwight, Craig Hunt and Ashley Fearnall and he’s confident his side can get a result.
“The selections for this week have certainly covered the issue of not having a fifth bowler,” he added.
“I’m asking for the same application as last weekend and hopefully we can put on a good performance to go out there and get the win.”
