House of horrors as Hawker's boys slide towards drop (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

House of horrors as Hawker's boys slide towards drop

9:21am Thursday 16th July 2009

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Cricket: Westinghouse captain Steve Hawker says his side now need a miracle to avoid relegation after slipping to their tenth successive defeat of the season on Saturday.

Having chosen to bowl first, Westinghouse were initially wayward with the ball and earned a dressing down from their skipper at the mid-innings drinks break.

In rainy conditions, Hawker’s men showed some fighting spirit with the bat to recover from a poor start and were in a good position with 16 overs remaining.

However as the rain increased, umpires decided no further play would take place with Westinghouse 24 runs short of the required score and now rooted to the bottom of the Wltshire Division, with just seven games remaining.

“It was well balanced. We had 47 overs to get the runs and our batsmen were well set,” said Hawker.

“I’m not going to say we would have gone on to win but it would have been interesting.”

He added: “It hurts at the moment to be where we are and it should hurt. It’s difficult not to talk about it but we’re there for a reason.

“It’s going to be a very long way back from where we are now. That’s not to say we are already relegated but realistically we’ve got to do something very special to get out of it and there are no easy games.”

After a poor start with the ball, which saw Nationwide race to 120-2, Hawker read his bowlers the riot act and was rewarded with a slew of quick wickets.

Jon Cleverly and Richard Farmer were the pick of the home bowlers, sharing five wickets, while all-rounder Christian Fry improved after the skipper’s pep talk.

“We talked about the basics, line and length,” said Hawker. “191 wasn’t a score I would have been happy with at the start but I would have been at half-way.”

Westinghouse opener Howard Simons and Hawker were both dismissed for ducks in reply but Steve Ferris (27) and Fry (31 not out) steadied the ship and looked to have put them on course for victory.

Cleverly (27 not out) picked up the run rate when he came in to bat but the hosts were still some way behind the required rate when umpires called a halt to play.

“We’re frustrated,” said Hawker. “We competed last week and this week only for weather to take the opportunity away.

“But if we’d bowled better and got them out for less than 191 we might have been able to knock off the runs more quickly.” Westinghouse visit Winsley on Saturday.

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