A rather too familiar story is not helping our league cause whatsoever as, once again, we were victims of the weather at Lytham, returning home with just four 'abandoned' points reports Dave Dove

We had played the game we wanted to after being inserted to bat. Gareth Cross was the star of the show, with an innings which showed patience to start with, but once established, his familiar shotmaking prowess took him close to a century, but it just wasn't to be. I was pleased to chip in with a few runs myself in helping us to a total of over 200.

When the rain came the game was nicely poised and both teams would have considered themselves in with a chance of victory.

Sunday's quarter final Lancashire Cup tie at South West Manchester appeared in real doubt as the rain fell until mid afternoon. With a bowl out at the stumps an outcome which neither side wanted, a 20 over match was agreed as conditions continued to improve. Having been inserted to bat, we got off to a great start with Andy Batterley and Ronnie Davis hitting the ball well. We stuttered in the middle of the innings, but Liam Zammit restored the momentum with some big hits as we finished on 128.

This total was not quite as many as I would have liked and when they were half way to the total with half the overs remaining, I was a little concerned. We did begin to apply the pressure and turned the screw as they faltered and we took advantage of opportunities which came along, and we ended up winning quite comfortably.

I believe that we did not show the urgency in this match that I wanted to see and, had we been playing stronger opposition, it could have been costly. What I do believe that we have, is confidence in ourselves and one another to carry us home to wins even when the chips are down.