Spalding Town skipper: ‘I fear back-to-back defeats has wrecked our season’

SPALDING TOWN 1st: Back (from left) – Luke Whitworth, Jack Barratt, Chris Dring, Charlie Kearns, Wamanga Perera, Nuwan Jayasena; front – James Hook, Tim Norris, captain Rob Ambrose, Josh Newton, Warren Nel and Mahesh Rajaratne. Photo (NIKKI GRIFFIN): VNG310514-28 (to order call 01775 660561)

Spalding Town (66) lost to Skegness (307) by 241 runs

Captain Rob Ambrose is worried that Spalding Town have undone all of their good work this season after witnessing Saturday’s Lincs ECB Premier League humbling at Skegness.

Town had been eyeing a top five finish this term, but heavy back-to-back beatings have left them in the bottom four of the standings.

Their latest loss, Saturday’s 241-run beating at the seaside, was their heaviest of the campaign so far.

New Zealand ace Brendan Young smashed 126 and Peter Houghton added 69 in Skegness’ whopping 307 – having been put into bat by Town skipper Ambrose.

They were 35-3 at one stage, but went on to become the first team to pass 300 against Spalding this term.

The only silver-lining for the visitors was the fact they bowled their hosts out, with James Hook (4-62), Charlie Kearns (3-70) and Jack Barratt (2-56) doing most of the damage.

Spalding’s reply was perhaps their lowest point of the entire season, as they were skittled out for just 66 in 18.4 overs. Only Kearns (29 not out) made double figures, with every other player failing to make their mark.

Ambrose admitted he side “lost their heads” and now worries they have “tossed away” the chance of a best-ever finish in the league.

He said: “Oh dear, what can I say? I thought it looked a typical Skeg pitch, so I was happy to win the toss and have a bowl.

“It looked to be working a treat too, but Young and Houghton rallied. To be fair, we showed no heart or spirit from then onwards.

“Nobody was willing to dig in with the bat and we rolled over for them. We lost our heads and it was pretty embarrassing really.
“The worst thing is that we had got ourselves in the position to maybe finish in the top five or six.

“It’s not done and dusted yet, but I’m worried we’ve tossed that away – which is a shame as it would’ve shown real progress.

“It’s not over yet, but the worry is that the guys may feel we have nothing to play for now we can’t go down or win the league.”

Ambrose must now rally his troops for this Saturday’s home clash with Grimsby at Spalding Grammar School (noon).

Town are only 30 points off fifth-placed Sleaford, but have only four games left.

Grimsby are one of the three teams below Spalding and have only won three times this season. Town also have games with rock bottom Market Rasen and mid-table Louth to play, before a trip to title hopefuls Bracebridge Heath on the final day.

Ambrose is backing his team to win their next three if they can sort their heads out – and is also hoping to play a big part in the title race.

He added: “A few weeks ago I looked at the fixtures and thought we could win them all ahead of Bracebridge on the final day.
“We’ve now lost two on the trot, but the next three are very winnable.

“We are back to pretty much full strength after having a few missing against Skeg, but we need to get our heads in the game.

“I’d like us to have a say in the title race by giving Bracebridge a proper game on the last day, but we need to find some form first.”

Influential number three Josh Newton and all-rounder Nuwan Jayasena return on Saturday, but Sri Lankan opener Thivanka “Mahesh” Rajaratne is a doubt.