CORSHAM captain Pete Dennett concedes that his side never recovered from the cheap dismissals of opening batsmen Toby Davies and Mike Coles as they were beaten by Downend last weekend.

Both Davies and Coles went out for ducks, leaving Corsham with too large a mountain to climb as they slipped to a six-wicket Wadworth 6X West of England Premier League Premier One defeat at Station Road.

“Losing both of our opening batsmen for ducks was something that we never really made our way back from – that’s not to blame them but it left us needing a lot of runs because they’re two of our best players,” said Dennett.

“Jon Parker did really well and Steve Bullen batted very sensibly. We did well to get to 200-odd runs but we knew that was always going to be about 30 short of what we needed.

“We managed to drag things out until the 48th over but it was too big a gap for us to close in the end.

“It’s disappointing because we’d had a positive start to the season but we’ve just got to get together in training and try to make up for it when we go to Ascott (& Shapwick) next weekend.”

Corsham were put in to bat after losing the toss and were immediately under the cosh after the visitors’ Rhys Barrett quickly claimed the wickets of Davies and Coles on his way to figures of 5-37.

Jon Parker hit an unbeaten 68 as Steve Bullen and James Arney hit 50 and 31 respectively but Dennett’s men were out for 205 in the final over.

Downend’s Curtis Blakemore made 68 while former Corsham man Craig Miles added an unbeaten 48 as the visitors reached 208-4 early in the 48th over.

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