We’re not much of a catch so far
BURSCOUGH CC couldn’t quite find enough to beat Orrell Red Triangle in their league clash on Saturday and have now suffered three successive defeats.
It was a tough game for both teams as they had to contend with poor weather conditions and frequent stoppages but in the end Orrell Red Triangle came out on top.
Captain Jon Stone believes it was his side’s inability to take key catches which ultimately proved costly as some of Orrell’s star batsmen were able to build high scores following early scares in the field.
It has been a problem which has occurred regularly for several weeks now and Stone admitted the squad had to take special measures in training this week in an attempt to re-tune their focus for a trio of oncoming matches.
“It was a rain-affected game and we were on and off all day. We managed to get to 189 on a wicket which was hard to bat on so we were pleased with that,” said Stone.
“I got 70 odd and a few others got some fairly decent scores too so we looked quite comfortable. We declared on what we felt was a good score.
“However, it was then the same old Burscough - we just dropped loads of catches.
We thought we gave ourselves a good opportunity to win the game but the guy who got 90 runs for them, we had dropped plenty of times.
“It is really disappointing when that happens because we know we’re capable of catching them out. We’ve just not been able to do it!
“We spent an hour and a half in training last night just doing catches. We didn’t do any batting or bowling and we simply focused it all on just our fielding. That’s all we can do.
“I think the lads are feeling pressure in the field at the moment because a lot have been dropped and it’s starting to get in our heads. If we land a few catches in the next few games then we should be okay.
“It’s just about breaking out of that bad patch now.”
Burscough have got one of their busiest weeks of the season as they have a triple-header, including another crucial league match against Birkenhead Park on Saturday.
They have to take on Rainhill in the T20 cup competition on Thursday evening first and then they are involved in more cup action on Sunday against Sefton Park.
Stone is confident his side can return to winning ways as he has strong squads available for all three fixtures. Burscough also have a former overseas player returning and Stone hopes he will bring something extra to the side for Thursday’s cup match.
“We’ve got a lad coming back into the squad for Thursday who used to be our overseas player. Hopefully he can give us a boost and that will add more strength,” said Stone.
“It’s probably the best side we could have out so we’re confident we can do well and hopefully if we get through to the next round we’ll be full of confidence for Saturday’s game against Birkenhead.
“They [Birkenhead] are near the bottom of the league so we’re confident we can do well if we perform to the level we know we can do.
“We just need to keep our catches in because we know that everybody is capable of holding down a catch. We do it in the warm-ups and in training all the time so we just need to do in the game situations.
“We’ve got a strong side for all three games so we’ve got a good chance this week and hopefully we can put some points together on the board and do well.
“It will be a busy week but it shouldn’t affect how we play and if we can get on a bit of a roll this week it can give us a big boost.”