THERE was more disappointment for Horncastle on Saturday as their losing streak continued at lowly Grimsby in another game where their batting failed to match their bowling and fielding.
On losing the toss, Town were asked to field first and good opening spells from Luke Smith and Steve Carr yielded two wickets each for the pace men as the home side struggled for runs.
There were also wickets for Jackson and Pubbs Chandrasekara an
d skipper Mick Devereux returned another four wicket haul as Horncastle bowled their opponents out for just 137, claiming maximum bowling points in the process and setting up an excellent chance to end their run of three games without a win.
However, as has been the case too often this season, the batting let them down and despite cruising to victory at 97 for 3, they collapsed to 122 all out with the last seven wickets falling for just 25 runs.
They were three down early on as the top order failed to produce the required solid start, but Luke Smith and Chandrasekara steadied the ship and took them to within sight of a win.
Chandrasekara reached 53 but just as he and Smith were winning the game, both were out in quick succession and the middle and lower order could offer no more than token resistance.
So, after a promising start to the campaign against some of the top teams in the league, they have faltered badly in recent weeks and must soon produce a victory to keep out of the relegation places, which are creeping ever closer.
Things will not be any easier this weekend as they travel to Cleethorpes looking to avenge the defeat they suffered at their hands just 3 weeks ago.
The full article contains 298 words and appears in Horncastle News newspaper.
