Cuckney rocked after big defeat at title rivals Kimberley

Dan Wood celebrates his half-century against Cuckney on Saturday.

“To put it fairly, they gave us a good hiding really,” admitted assistant captain Richard Bostock.

“We were confident. They won the toss and chose to bat which is what we would have probably done, and they made use of it as it was a fairly flat wicket.

“We probably didn't bowl in the right areas to start with and they got a nice base and certainly cashed in with the lower order batsmen coming in and whacking a few late runs. They certainly put us in our place for that weekend.”

However, he added: “We are not too downhearted by it.

“We certainly want to be up there challenging with Kimberley come the end of the season. It's only the second game of the year – and it's only one loss .

“We are not stringing losses together. And it was against a team we know will be challenging.

“We will dust ourselves down and look to go again and put this weekend's result right. We are looking for a big win as well.”

With Kimberley's top three Sam Wood (59), Jack Nightingale (79) and Tom Rowe (63) in top gear, Kimberley made 298-7.

Cuckney were then bowled out for 150 in 41.3 overs, Nick Langford top-scoring with 38.

It was a first outing for Cuckney's new professional duo with Paul Van Meekeren taking 3-40 and Cody Yusuf 1-52.

“It was really good to have them,” said Bostock.

“They only really came out of quarantine on Friday so they had a little bowl at the club on Friday.

“They were a little slow to get started with a bit of rust from being in quarantine. But once they got into their stride they were really impressive and bowled with really good pace in really good areas.

“We know for a fact that they will trouble a lot of top order batters in this league.

“We also found out that, having had the pace up front, they also had the skills to come back at the end and prove really good death bowlers and look to take wickets then. We're really happy with what we've got.”

Visitors Attenborough could expect a Cuckney backlash this Saturday.

“I wouldn't say we expect to beat anyone in this league,” said Bostock.

“But we certainly think we can beat anyone in this league and, with Attenborough, if we can get our skills right – especially at home – we certainly believe we have the quality to put a big win in and right everything we got wrong last week.”