Norfolk Cricket Alliance preview: Skipper Thomson urges ‘shell-shocked’ Stow to bounce back
Stow captain Keith Thomson admits his shell-shocked side owe it themselves to bounce back with an improved batting display when they host Vauxhall Mallards A tomorrow.
Overseas' professional Laundre Van Wky had taken 4-21 as Stow restricted Lowestoft to 106 all out in their opening Norfolk Cricket Alliance Premier Division match on Saturday.
However, chasing a modest total for victory, the West Norfolk outfit's battling line-up collapsed to post a paltry 35 - much to the disbelief of Thomson.
He said: 'At tea, I was delighted. We'd been impeccable. We'd barely made a fielding error, or bowled an extra, and we'd caught all of our catches. We were on top of the world.
'Then I don't know what happened. I can't really explain it. We were all shell-shocked. We weren't complacent. It's just to a man, no-one batted well enough. Individually we picked the wrong shots and made personal errors.
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'We haven't forgotten to bat as we went to Norwich on Sunday and hit more than 200. But we need to keep Saturday in our mind so it never happens again. Collectively it was probably our best performance in the field ever, but we just didn't bat well enough.'
'Everyone has a point to prove and I'm looking for a response from the team - even though I'm going to be missing probably my only match of the season because I'm at a wedding.'
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Thomson said he was 'doubly disappointed' to be absent as his side look to bounce back under stand-in captain for the day Daniel Ward.
One skipper who enjoyed his outfit's first match of a weather-hit campaign on Saturday, when North Runcton beat Diss by four wickets, was Andrew Barrett.
Debutants Will Templeman (2-8) and Christo van Schalwyk (57) impressed with the latter, Runcton's overseas star, putting on a third-wicket stand of 102 with Mark Skipper (43).
Barrett said: 'I was ecstatic with the whole display to be fair, even if we conceded 20 more runs than I think we should have.
'Christo galvanised our innings and did exactly what we wanted. It wasn't the most fluent of innings but it was very well-grafted. I'm always confident if we play to our ability we can win, and I feel the same about tomorrow.'
Runcton travel to Ashmanhaugh & Barton Wanderers while fellow West Norfolk Alliance Premier Downham Town, who beat Barton by four wickets at the weekend, visit Sprowston.
