Berks have nothing but pride left to play for

Berkshire CCC team manager Dave Morris admitted his side will be playing only for pride for the rest of the season after seeing them lose by eight wickets to Dorset in their Minor Counties Championship match at Bounemouth this week.

"Our hopes of retaining the title are over, but we are certainly not giving up this season," he said.

"We will be making changes and we have three matches left to try and get things right."

Berkshire's second defeat in three games came on a wicket at Dean Park that he described as 'sub-standard' for Minor Counties cricket.

"Both teams felt it was under-prepared by an inexperienced groundsman," said Morris.

"Dorset adapted to it better than we did. They batted and bowled better than us."

The unpredictable wicket was far from ideal, but it could not be entirely blamed for Berkshire's second successive away defeat, as their batting and bowling both fell short of the high standard they had set themselves when winning the title last year.

Berkshire managed only 212 in their first innings, having lost David Barnes to the very first ball of the day.

Half the side was out for 76, with 45 of then coming from Craig Crowe. The only other batsmen to offer any stiff resistance was No.9 Richard Logan, who defied Dorset for just over two hours and remained unbeaten on 51, made off 121 balls.

The Dorset bowling honours went to seamer Ed Denham, who took 5-28 off 11.4 overs.

Dorset replied with 301 off 89 overs, with Steve Naylor, Tom Lambert and Logan taking three wickets apiece.

Like they had on Sunday, the Berks batsmen struggled again in their second innings and were shot out for just 137, when rain delayed the start to 2.30pm on the final day. Top scorer was Jono McLean with 41, followed by Naylor on 23.

Dorset were left only 49 to win and they knocked them off for two wickets. It was their second win in three games.

So it was a pretty tame effort by Berks and they have now reached the half-way stage of their championship season without a win and at the foot of the Western Division.

Morris said changes will be made for their next match, against Shropshire at Finchampstead CC on July 26-28.

His son, James, will return after missing two matches due to teaching commitments and Morris is also hoping former Middlesex spinner Chris Peploe will be available.

"We badly want to get back to winning ways and there is also pride at stake for the rest of the season," said Morris.