Disappointed skipper wants more from his players
DISAPPOINTED Stratford skipper James Urquhart said he needs more from his batsmen and bowlers if they are to challenge for Warwickshire League Premier Division honours this season.
The Swans Nest side lost by 43 runs to Aston Manor on Saturday but the skipper admitted that his side had been in a winning position.
“Saturday was very disappointing,” Urquhart said. “If we want to be anywhere near the top of the league then we need to be winning games like that from the position we were in.
“We were all out in the 42nd over which is criminal chasing a score of 250. If you are not batting out all your overs, then it is an upward task.
“It was similar the previous week when we were in a situation where we should have won that one as well but it’s all well and good saying we should’ve, could’ve, would’ve, but at the end of the day we need to turn good positions into winning results.
“They scored 250 but 100 of those came in the last ten overs. It was quite a small ground and that was the reason why we bowled first, thinking that it would be difficult trying to defend a total. That was the game plan and it was working up until around the 38th over when we lost a few wickets – at every stage we were ahead of the rate, it was just that we got bowled out. If we’d had seen out the whole 50 overs, then I have no doubt we would have won that game.
“We need someone to stick their hand up and win the game for us. It wasn’t just the batsmen, it was the bowlers as well. They were 150/3 going into the last ten overs. Having only taken three wickets, it gave them the opportunity to swing hard in the final ten overs. We need to pick up a few more wickets and not just squeeze the run rate down.”
The skipper is hopeful that wicket-keeper and opening bat Chris Calcott will have recovered from the knee injury that has forced him to miss the last two games ahead of this Saturday’s home match with Attock.
Urquhart added: “We know the score with Attock. They are top heavy so have a lot of good batsmen at the top of the order so if we can get a few early wickets then hopefully we can restrict. They swing hard and try to hit long balls so, at our place, we can hopefully use the massive boundaries to our advantage.
“I have already spoken to the groundsman to see if we can play in the middle pitch and have the boundaries as big as they can be as that will suit us better. We want to make them earn their runs.
