MARTINSTOWN 190 (5pts) lost to BROADSTONE 191-3 (20pts) by seven wickets

MARTINSTOWN captain Ed Nichols was left feeling disappointed after his side were beaten handsomely by Broadstone on Saturday.

His team were bowled out for 190 in the first innings before the visitors chased the score down with ease, losing just three wickets as they knocked off the runs with nearly 12 overs to spare.

After the game, Nichols told Echosport that he felt his players were under par in the heavy loss.

He said: “It was disappointing. We had a strong group of players out there and we know we are capable of producing better performances than the one we produced on Saturday.”

With overcast conditions greeting the players, bowling first was the order of the day and Broadstone did just that.

They were quickly rewarded with the wicket of Nichols and fellow opener Lee House followed shortly after.

After these two wickets, the middle order all chipped in with runs, but their captain was frustrated by the batsman getting in and getting out.

He added: “They bowled well, getting some early wickets and putting us on the back foot.

“But I felt we battled back quite well. Everyone from three down to nine got into double figures and they all looked good and played positively.

“It was just a case of them getting in and getting out.

“There were seven wickets between their two spinners and a few of those were gifts and we never managed to get ourselves into a position where we could bat out our 50 overs.

“If we could have done that with the way we were playing then we could’ve posted a competitive score in those conditions.

“190 was never going to be enough.”

Nichols was aware his side had to bowl well to restrict their opponents however, they were powerless to stop Broadstone running away with the game.

“We knew the score was under par,” Nichols explained. “But it was still a score that you can defend if you bowl well.

“But we didn’t.

“We bowled too many boundary balls and they batted positively to get them ahead of the game and we couldn’t stop them.”

The result leaves Martinstown second in the Premier League standings and they visit Shillingstone this weekend looking for a positive result.

He added: “They’re bottom of the table but they’re a good side and we won’t take it for granted.”