Whitby CC 1sts skipper Kai Morris urges hosts to step up a gear against Sedgefield

Whitby were edged out by three wickets in a cracking North Yorkshire South Durham Division One match at Rockcliffe Hall on Saturday, and then they suffered defeat 24 hours later in a rain-affected clash at Sedgefield.

On Saturday, Whitby skipper Kai Morris won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Joel Lloyd was the star man with the bat for the visiting side, sharing a first-wicket stand of 21 with teenager Rhys Buck (12), the latter being clean-bowled by Brett Roberts.

Aussie Lloyd then put on 25 runs with veteran Paul Buck, who was the next man to fall, clean-bowled by Mark Swanwick.

A fifty-run partnership for the third wicket between Lloyd and James Fawcett (10 in 27 balls) put Whitby in a strong position, Swanwick also dismissing Fawcett, and also capturing the wicket of Lloyd’s next batting partner Lewis Brearley, who added seven runs.

Whitby skipper Morris then joined the opener, hitting 19 in 23 balls before becoming Swanwick’s fourth victim of the afternoon.

At 135-5 the game was in the balance, but then another half-century stand boosted the away team’s fortunes, Lloyd and Tom Steyert taking Whitby to 185 until the former was finally dismissed for an outstanding knock of 88 from 98 deliveries by Andrew Ryan.

The Aussie star smacked 10 fours and a couple of sixes in his stand-out innings.

Ryan also claimed the wicket of Tom Steyert, who had contributed a useful 33 from 28 balls, including eight fours.

Veteran Ron Lyth (11), Steven Allen (6) and Ricky Hall (3) all tried their best to keep Whitby going but they were all out for 223 in 43.2 overs, having lost their last five wickets for 39 runs.

Lloyd picked up with the ball where he left off with the bat, claiming the early wicket of Matthew Wheeler (4) to leave the hosts in early trouble at 5-1.

Sam Bainbridge and Daniel Douglas then shared a second-wicket stand of 84 to put Rockcliffe in the driving seat, Steyert clean-bowling the latter for 39 to break the partnership up.

Steven Allen then snapped up the wickets of Daniel McGuire (19) and Adam Randall (3) to bring Whitby back into contention as the hosts were 127-4.

A 65-run fifth-wicket stand between Roberts and Bainbridge looked to be steering the hosts to a comfortable win until Morris dismissed the latter for 67 to leave Hall 192-5.

Roberts was run out for Lyth for a 35-ball 48 and Lloyd dismissed Swanwick for one, but the home side earned the win thanks to Amrit Das’ 25no as they made it to 228-7 from 40 overs.

On Sunday, high-flying hosts Sedgefield posted 235-5 from their 50 overs, Steyert the top bowler with 3-58 with a wicket apiece for Hall and Allen.

Whitby's reply never got going, as rain reduced their target to 184, but they slipped to 40-7 by the time finally halted play after 21 overs.

Kai Morris said: “We went into the weekend with high hopes, however things didn’t quite go the way we’d have hoped.

"I can’t fault the lads in terms of effort, as everyone gave 100% over the two games but unfortunately we just weren’t quite at it with bat or ball.

"It was good to see Lloydy get some runs on Saturday, but as a group we didn’t give him enough support to allow us to reach a par score which was probably around 250 on a good wicket and a small ground.

"Then with the ball we managed to stay in the game for most of their innings but we simply bowled too many boundary balls and weren’t able to maintain enough pressure.

"Then on Sunday we bowled pretty well and the lads fought really hard to keep Sedgefield to a par score but then we weren’t able to back it up with the bat, which was really disappointing.

"We’ve got the perfect opportunity to put things right at home on Saturday as we play Sedgefield again.

"We’re going into that game with an extra batsman in an attempt to try and address what’s been our main problem so far in the league this season.

"We know we need to improve across the board and I’m confident we’re able to to do that.”

"We’re still in a reasonable position in what’s proving to be yet again a really tough decision.”​