A COLLAPSE by Coventry & North Warwickshire’s batsmen condemned them to a comprehensive eight-wicket defeat to leaders Walmley in Warwickshire County Cricket League Premier Division.
Coventry were out for just 103 in the 38th over, before Walmley demonstrated their ranking at the top of the tree by beating the visitors’ total in the 29th over.
Batting first after Walmley elected to field, Coventry slumped to 18-5 when losing Taran Toor (9), William Iles (0), Vaibhav Panwar (0), Matthew Naylor (3) and Matthew Clements (0), with bowler Recordo Gordon (5-10) the man behind the visitors’ demise.
Number six Tony Bristow (7) and Jack Horsley (39) helped carry their side to 42-6 before Bristow was trapped lbw by Mohammed Sheikh.
A top-scoring partnership of 48 then followed for the visitors, thanks to Jack and Harry Horsley (22), though both were gone by the eighth wicket at 94-8.
Manbir Johal (7) and George Neal (1) were the last two to go, falling victim to bowler Jonathan Newis (3-10), to leave Coventry & NW with an uphill battle to save face, let alone points.
Jack Horsley ensured a perfect start to the innings for Coventry when catching Sheikh (6) from Harry Horsley’s delivery, though the second wicket partnership of 63 between Daniel Bromley (29) and Roshan Balaji Sumathi Venkataraman (41no) erased any fears of an upset.
Venkataraman and Sarmad Bhatti (22no) then carried Walmley over the line to an almost inevitable victory.
Coventry face another tough test when visiting third-place Attock on Saturday (noon) but go into the fixture knowing they can rise to fourth with a win.