Wanted: A win (ugly will do)

We're approaching the halfway stage of the season now, and we still haven't won a game! That's worrying. We're rooted to the bottom of the table still after another defeat at the weekend. But are there the green shoots of recovery?

Having won the toss and elected to bowl first in overcast conditions, the opening bowlers (Mohammad Qadeer (1-41) and Mohammad Shahnawaz (4-21) bowled accurately and caused problems. The Skipton openers struggled to score and lost a couple of early wickets. Unfortunately the next pair batted carefully until the bowling change, then cut loose scoring freely. They shared a third wicket stand of 123 before a comical/unfortunate (depending on your point of view) run out broke them up. This led to a mini collapse as four wickets were lost for 9 runs, but the number seven batsman smashed a few boundaries to take Skipton CI to a healthy 219 - 9

A good score, but not unbeatable considering the batting line-up we had. If a few of them came off, the target could be reached. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. Mick Cryer showed more attacking shots than usual in his 17; Mohammad Qadeer batted solidly for 29 until missing with a huge flail and lost middle stump; Dale Pinkerton (18) was well caught from a difficult steepling strike down to fine leg. Zain Naeem looked promising (though too many aerial shots) in his 17, and Rahim Hussain and Danny Kernan looked steady for the last wicket. But nobody scored the big total we really needed, and so we finished all out on 152.

One plus was that the fielding looked a little sharper this week. There were still lapses (balls through legs for boundaries, a couple of drops...) but in general everyone seemed a little more switched on. There were two run outs, taken calmly without panic. Rahim took a catch! Maybe a corner has been turned?

This weekend sees us visit Sandy Lane - the team directly above us in the Division. We really need to target this game. A win sets us up for the second half of the season, and a chance to climb out of the relegation zone. A loss leaves us in dire straits. We need everyone to be on their game this Saturday.