Gunnislake’s bright start to the season came to an end at Werrington, where the home side’s fourth team eventually ran out winners by four wickets, passing the Gunnislake total in the 39th over.
Werrington won the toss and asked Gunnislake to bat on what looked like a good hard batting wicket. But looks can be deceptive and the ball often kept low, despite some aggressive opening bowling by Tyler May and Joe Gent. Opener Stephen Lees did not last long, hampered by a bad knock on the knee. But this brought Simon Beare out to join the ever-dependable Adam Emmerson. Runs flowed at a steady pace until Werrington brought on older campaigners Brian Baker and Adam Paynter. Trying to break free Beare played round and over a straight one from Baker, to depart for an excellent 43. Gunnislake were well placed at 109 for 2 at the half way stage. After a good start the middle order had licence to go for it, but the start was wasted as only Joe Organ reached double figures. Emmerson then became a bit becalmed, feeling the need to be watchful as wickets began to fall with regularity at the other end. When Emmerson was out for 59, LBW to Paynter, it was left to captain Mark Everett to marshal the tail. Baker and Paynter showed what an accurate line and length can achieve, giving away a meagre 53 runs in 19 overs, while claiming seven wickets between them. The return to the attack of Tyler May quickly polished things off as Gunnislake subsided to 158 all out, two runs short of a fourth batting point.
Throughout Werrington’s reply it was nip and tuck. Wickets fell regularly and the required scoring rate remained stubbornly over five an over. Gunnislake bowled well but the fielding left more to be desired: age creeping up on some of the players. For Werrington an excellent partnership by youngsters Ed Walters and Matt Gilmour began to turn the tide. Walters was dropped on 4, a miss Gunnislake were to rue. The batsmen were enjoying themselves, mixing aggressive shots with good running between the wickets. Meanwhile Gunnislake grew more frustrated. The partnership was finally broken when Walters took one risk too many: an attempted single to mid-on, where a combination of Joe Organ and Dinesh Thirupuvanarajah finally completed a run out.
At this stage the match was still in the balance, but with Werrington the favourites. Werrington captain Keith Moore came to the crease and with a few good pulls the run rate came down and Werrington were home with four wickets and six balls to spare. Werrington had bagged maximum points, while Gunnislake gathered only six. For Gunnislake it was a good bowling performance, but only two batsmen can hold their heads high. Ragged fielding was perhaps the main downfall, although with another 20 runs the result could have been different.
Next week sees Gunnislake hosting early League leaders Duloe: another hard match is in prospect as the team adapt to life in a higher division.
Gunnislake 158 all out (A Emmerson 59, S Beare 43; B Baker 4-28, A Paynter 3-25, T May 3-28) Werrington 162-6 (E Walters 38, M Gilmour 34, K Moore 22no; L Roberts 3-19). Werrington IV (20 points) beat Gunnislake (6 points) by four wickets.