Still all to play for says captain after Kimberley Institute lose second game in a row
Kimberley Institute suffered a second successive defeat – a stunning six wicket home loss to Wollaton - that put another dent in their Nottinghamshire Premier League title hopes last weekend.
But captain Alex King says there is still everything to play for with nine games to go.
Sitting third, they now trail table-topping Cavaliers, who won again, by 16 points, though second-placed Cuckney, eight points ahead of Kimberley, also suffered a defeat on Saturday.
Asked to bat, Kimberley stumbled their way to 137 all out in 39 overs with only George Bacon reaching the 20-run mark.
Simon Walton took 3-24 in eight overs and Kiel Van Vollenhoven 3-20, also in eight overs.
Wollaton made the perfect start in reply with Hassan Azad (36) and Johan Cronje (54) enjoying an opening partnership of 90 runs.
Kimberley hit back, removing four wickets for 21 runs, but Van Vollenhoven eased the visitors home with his 31 not out in 33 balls, hitting six fours.
“We had hoped for a bit of a reaction from last week's defeat, but it was not to be,” said King.
“Wollaton had the best of the conditions on a fresh wicket but they bowled really well and deserved their win.
“We were disappointing with the bat, underlined by the fact that extras was our top scorer.
“We did our best with the ball, but they nailed it with about 50 in the first five overs and their opening partnership pretty much killed the game really.
“But we don't see the title race as over. We know we can get on these runs as we have before.
“It is in our hands. We have just got to win the last nine games, which includes beating Cavaliers and Cuckney, and hopefully this Saturday Cuckney beat the Cavaliers to rein it back in a bit.
“There are opportunities there still and we just have to sort ourselves out and focus on ourselves.”
Kimberley now head to Plumtree on Saturday knowing they cannot afford any more slip-ups while Cavaliers head to Cuckney for the big showdown above them.