Disappointing batting

Cricket

LANGHOLM 1st XI suffered their first defeat of the season ing batting display at home to Staffield.
Chasing 91, Langholm could manage only 57. Only Gregor Park made double figures with 27.
Staffield won the toss and decided to make use of the only dry bit of grass in Langholm which had not been watered by the morning drizzle.
What they found was a wicket offering some decent bounce to the bowlers and the batsmen began to struggle against the Steele brothers.
First to go was Armstrong who was caught behind by keeper Gregor Park off Tony Steele for 8, with 17 on the board.
With the score on 19, two wickets fell in two overs. Dave Steele clean-bowled O’Neil for 9, then his elder brother had the dangerous Thomlinson plumb LBW for 1.
Langholm now had Staffield in trouble at 19 for 3. Parker and Vasey took the score up to 32 after 15 overs before Graham Park struck three times in two overs.
LBW
Vasey was caught by Ashton-Smith for 11, Tuer was LBW for 1 and Telford was bowled for 0, leaving Staffield in deep trouble at 40 for 6.
Edmondson and Parker took the score up to 64 before some neat wicket-keeping by Park had Parker stumped for 9 off Johnstone.
Next to go was Edmondson who was caught by Graham Park off Johnstone for 19 with the score 71 for 8.
Brown and Helliwell took the score to 90 before Park clean-bowled the latter for 6.
Jack Pool had Couperwaite stumped by Park for 0, leaving Staffield all out for 91.
A great performance by Langholm in the field, bowling out the visitors for 91, but it felt like it could have been a lot less, considering they were 40 for 6.
Graham Park had 4 for 19, Tony Steele had superb figures off 10 overs 7 maidens 2 for 7, Johnstone had 2 for 20, Dave Steele 1 for 31 and Jack Pool 1 for 3.
With Duncan Elliott cracking the first ball for 4, hopes were high that Langholm would make short shrift of the low Staffied total.
Catch
This was not to be. With the third ball, Big Dunc lobbed one off O’Neil, giving Tuer an easy catch.
Things got much worse as Vasey removed Graham Park when Telford took a good diving catch in the gulley, leaving Langholm 6 for 2.
Tony Steele was caught behind for 0 off Vasey to leave Langholm in desperate trouble at 7 for 3.
Improvement
Nicky Piszczykiewicz joined Gregor Park and things began to improve. There are few batsmen who, when in, can score at a faster rate than Big Nick but the bearded Gregor is one.
With the help of some loose bowling from O’Neil, the score reached 27 in the eighth over. Vasey struck again, clean-bowling Nicky for 3.
Dave Steele joined Gregor and they took the score to 49 before Staffield claimed what turned out to be the match-winning wicket when Gregor was caught by Thomlinson off Vasey for 27.
Wickets began to fall at an alarming rate. Ashton-Smith was caught off Thomlinson by Helliwell for 1 and Dave Steele was caught at slip off Thomlinson for 8.
Next to go in the same manner was Aidan Wilson with the score 57 for 8. Vasey claimed his fifth wicket with his last bowl, having Johnstone caught behind for 2.
It all finished when Jay Gordon was caught at slip off Thomlinson and Langholm were all out for 57.
This was an extremely disappointing effort with the bat and it is one of the lowest scores Langholm has carded in the EVCL.
Although there was a bit of bounce in the wicket, it played pretty consistently and there was no way Langholm should have been bowled out for 57.