The Cowra Bowling Club received a lesson from the Parkes Royal Colts on Saturday afternoon, losing by 79 runs in a match that was effectively over by the first drinks break.
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Conceding the toss and being sent into bat didn't seem to worry the Colts, with Paul Dunford (72) and Myles Smith (54) putting up strong opening stands to leave the visitors in the enviable position of 2/155 by the 20th over.
The home team fought back, restricting the Colts to only 90 more runs while taking four wickets themselves, with Tom Thuaux (3/45) and Chris Howarth (2/47) the pick of the bowlers, but as the Bowling Club's Chris Day noted, it was too late.
"They got off to an absolute flyer," Day said.
"We didn't the bowl to the right areas, we dropped too many catches, and they took advantage of that."
"We pulled them back after drinks, but at 2/155, the game was pretty much gone."
Needing a run rate of just over six an over on a pitch that has been more than a little poppy, chasing 245 proved to be a task beyond the Bowling Club's capabilities.
While Skipper Mick Curtale hit a handy 56 and kept things positive while wickets continued to fall, his eventual dismissal left the Bowling Club on 5/89 at drinks.
The Colts' Smith was particularly influential, dialling up the bowling pressure after his half-century to claim 4/35 in a man-of-the-match worthy performance. He dismissed several of the Bowling Club's top-line batsmen, including Curtale, to extinguish any hopes of victory.
After drinks, Day (24) contributed to the runs before being caught from the bowling of Andrew Britt (1/19), but admitted that their backs were against the wall after the Colts' early hitting.
"It was obviously a pretty high run rate, we got a bit behind the required and it was a hill too high to climb for us I think."
Day wasn't too flustered though, acknowledging his squad's youth and the fact the cricketing season was still in its early days.
"We understand where we're at and we've got some improvements to be made, but I think our squad's got a massive amount of upside.
"It's just about the young kids learning about how to bowl and how to field in situations like that [today] when blokes are going pretty hard at you, but they'll learn from Saturday and we'll be in a better spot for it."
With one more game before a general bye, Day's side will take on the Cambridge Cats at home, but believed his team has enough to worry about without stressing about their opposition.
"We've just got to concentrate on ourselves and bowling and fielding a lot better than we did this week."
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