GRAPPENHALL Cricket Club’s poor form continued with a home defeat to Nantwich in a match in which at one stage they looked to be putting themselves in a good position to win!
Inviting their visitors to bat first on a fairly grassy but flat wicket, Grappenhall made steady inroads into the oppositions batting, and at 107 for 6 after 40 overs it looked that they might restrict Nantwich to a fairly modest total.
Up to this point the wickets had been shared by Sam Guest(3), Saqib Mahmood(2) and one from Ian Barnes. At this point Nantwich`s middle/late order scored a little too easily, and reached 187 all out in the final over. With Grappenhall having limited bowling options, Guesty bowled a marathon 27 over spell, and deservedly picked up 5 wickets for 75, while Saqib polished off the tail for a return of 3 for 37 off 12 overs.
Grappenhall`s reply could not have got off to a worse start, and after just 8 overs found themselves tottering badly at 24 for 5, with only Jimmy Mac(17) getting into double figures. A combination of indiscipline and poor shot selection against a decent attack was the primary contributor to the home sides demise. Will Sharp coming in at six briefly found support from Saqib before he was joined by Barnsey coming in at nine.
The two of them put on 48, before Will eventually fell for a highly creditable innings of 59, and showed as in recent weeks, his readiness to apply himself for the team`s cause, 134 for 8. Barnsey continued to play the big shots, and while he remained an unlikely victory was possible, until he was last man out for a hard hit 43 in the 37th over, and the final score of 147.
In losing by 40 runs and taking just 5 points from the match, Grappenhall remain in a perilous position at the wrong end of the table. With question marks about key players fitness, one can only hope they recover for the next two matches, these been Oulton Park in a T20 on Thursday 18th at home, and away at Neston next weekend.
