DAN MARLES is refusing to write off Finchampstead’s title hopes – but also admits he is wary of being sucked into a relegation battle.
After two successive games were abandoned due to rain, Finches did finally play out a full fixture when they travelled to Great and Little Tew on Saturday.
But it was a disappointing return to action, going down by five wickets after being bowled out for just 104.
Following a seven-game mid-season unbeaten run, reigning Home Counties Premier League champions Finchampstead are now winless since July 8 and sit fourth in the table.
They sit 39 points behind leaders Henley with four games to play, but are also just 31 points clear of the relegation zone.
And Marles admits he has had a glance down the table after Saturday’s disappointment.
“It was a really disappointing day for us,” the Finch captain told The Wokingham Paper.
“We set ourselves up for a good finish in the league and a last little push, but we kind of waved goodbye to it on Saturday.
“It was a pretty poor performance all round. A bit of inexperience and when you look back you say it was just one of those days really.
“Even though we lost on Saturday we were still thinking about the top of the league and looking at Henley’s result.
“But actually, looking at it now, we’re probably looking the other way and thinking we’re not too far off relegation.”
He added: “I think we just need a couple more wins.
“We’re the kind of side that we could win four out of four or we could lose a few.
“Hopefully we get a win on Saturday which kicks us back into gear for the last three games.
“You never know, we could storm up the table. Or we could have a couple of bad results and be looking down.
“But I think we’ll be fine. The 50/50 games are back this weekend, which suits our game a bit better.”
Finches lost the toss at an overcast Gordon Taylor Oval and were put in to bat first.
And they got off to a nightmare start, losing Andrew House (8), Adam Dewes (4), Marles (11) and Josh Lincoln (1) cheaply to send the scoreboard to a worrying 32-4.
Tail-ender Matt Carter (28) and Jandre Coetzee (17) offered some resistance, but the visitors were bowled out for 104 in the 33rd over.
There was some hope early in the reply as Great and Little Tew suffered a similarly poor start, sitting on 45-4 as Coetzee (3-24) led the bowling.
But the victory was sealed by five wickets in the 38th over.
“We definitely would’ve bowled first,” admitted Marles.
“There was rain about, it was a bit wet and quite hard to face up top.
“The toss was really crucial, but we should still have enough batters there to get at least 200, so it was a really disappointing.
“I think they were 10-2 and we dropped a catch to make it 10-3, which would’ve obviously made it a really interesting game.
“They were about 40-4 so it always felt like we were in the game but we just didn’t bowl in the right areas, dropped a couple of catches and you can’t really afford to do that in this league many times.”
Finchampstead are back at home this Saturday, hosting rock-bottom Burnham.
They will once again be without injured duo Sukhi Kang and Greg Smith, who are likely to miss the remainder of the campaign.
Ed Oliver could return but wicket-keeper Dan Lincoln is set to be away again as he resumes his football career with Bognor Regis Town.
“We’re really missing Dan at the moment,” said Marles.
“His keeping and how destructive he is with the bat.
“But we’re really looking forward to Saturday. We never like to lose and hopefully we can bounce back really quickly.
“It’s a home game on the main pitch and it’s always good to play there.
“We’ll hopefully get that win and look at the table after Saturday and assess where we are again.”
