Well, we lost although the scores flattered Sandbach a bit - they batted first and got 127 off their 20 overs, mainly scored by three good batsmen. We accumulated 87. There were some highlights - Omar scoring an excellent 36 before retiring, looking good in both defence and making best use of any loose deliveries, our new player, Ozan, who took wickets with accurate bowling, held an excellent catch and batted well too. Ellis took a couple of wickets including an absolute beauty of a flighted off-break - not sure of any other ones?

I think the overall problem was lack of consistency, particularly with the bowling. We were often bowling too short which, on a very slow pitch, allowed their better batsman to score heavily, as did the fairly regular full tosses. The fielding was fairly good, albeit a bit slow to back up a couple of times and we need to work on fielding positions to put pressure on the batsman. This is as much the bowlers' responsibility as the captain's and we also need to react to what batsmen are doing e.g. if consistently trying to hit to the leg side then moving fielders accordingly. The batting was generally a bit hesitant and lacking confidence so, again, a bit inconsistent.

However, I see the above issues being largely due to the players being a bit rusty so I would encourage all them all to get up to the nets and practice as much as possible. I will talk to the players about the fielding positions and the tactics of applying pressure at the next coaching session on Friday evening.