THERE was disappointment in Willoughby’s return to life in the South Northants League Premier Division as they were beaten by Marston St Lawrence at The Green.
In glorious conditions, the hosts were asked to bat first on a soft and slightly damp track and coupled with a decent opening pace attack, struggled to score freely.
After an early loss, Martin Nichols and Ashley Rayner batted through the opening spell keeping the scoreboard ticking.
When the former fell, Dave Alcock came in and immediately increased the scoring rate until he suffered a nasty cut above the eye which required hospital treatment.
From that point the Willoughby innings fell away.
Wickets tumbled regularly eventually resulting in a modest total of 82 all out being posted.
Rayner top scoring with 28 while Graham Hall’s 4-3 and Matt Riddle’s 3-23 did then damage through the middle and lower order.
In reply, batting for the visitors seemed to become slightly easier as the wicket dried and they began the chase in fairly comfortable fashion to secure an eight-wicket victory with overs in hand.
