A Stumble, not a Fall...?

According to the saying - When the going gets tough, the tough get going. It's time to find out whether we're tough enough!

Saturday was disappointing set of results all around for Riddlesden. Not only did we lose, but Crossflatts and Bingley Congs both won to move level with us on points in joint second place. We hold a slender advantage through a better run ratio, but with four games to go we probably need to win every match now to gain promotion. Our safety net dissolved on Saturday.

So where did it go wrong? We won the toss and chose our favourite tactic of batting first so all was well at that point. But this time the runs didn't flow the way they have most of the season. Towhid, promoted to opener in the absence of Steve Kernan, made 17. Mick Cryer provided a solid base for others to bat around, ending with an unbeaten 26, but otherwise there was nothing to write home about in a total scoreline of just 98 (19 of which were extras)

With so little to defend, almost everybody was given a bowl. Akeel (0-10 off 3 overs) had tidy figures, and Shanny bowled a very impressive 6 overs for just 4 runs, but in the end Skipton romped to victory losing just one wicket (Bilal Bashir 1-11 off 2 overs) in the process.

This weekend we have an immediate chance to repair some of the damage in a crunch match against Bingley Congs. This definitely comes under the 'must win' banner so here's to putting last week behind us and playing in the manner we've become accustomed to this year. In the away fixture against them, Shanny scored an excellent 112 and Qaddy picked up 4 wickets as we won by 73 runs. The same result would be ideal this week. Let's get tough!