Sudbrook stuck in a rut (From Free Press Series)

Sudbrook stuck in a rut

SUDBROOK player-coach Mark O'Leary has no qualms about Premiership sides playing county cricketers, despite conceding three centuries to Glamorgan batters in three separate games this season.

Cardiff's Alex French, Newport's Ian Thomas and Pontypridd's John Hughes - all professionals with Glamorgan - have scored over 100 runs against Sudbrook - games the Deepweir side have convincingly lost.

O'Leary, who has yet to win a league game since taking over from Paul Jarvis as player-coach, admitted his side has been paying the price of facing such proficient batters, but said that was part and parcel of the Premiership after Saturday's 55-run defeat at Pontypridd.

"We were just beaten by another county player again (John Hughes). We can have no issues about county players in the Premiership. We had Paul Jarvis ourselves last season.

The idea is to bring the standard of the league up which it does," said O'Leary, who hit 41 runs in Saturday's match.

The Sudbrook player-coach put the club's third defeat in a row down to inefficient bowling and a lack of runs and urged his men to do their best to pick up that vital first win this term.

"We didn't bowl as well as we should have done. We didn't bowl straight enough and maybe should have just worked on the one side of the wicket instead of both.

"It was a good wicket and we can have no excuses. We didn't do the business bowling and we didn't score as many runs as we should have when we came to bat.

"I think maybe there is a lack of application at the moment. We'll just have to hit the nets and keep practising," he said.

Batting first Pontypridd put a solid 262-5 on the score board with John Hughes getting almost half their runs with 106. Kevin Stephens took 3-56 for Sudbrook.

In reply Chris Archer (50), skipper O'Leary (41) and John Lewis (29 not out) battled hard, but in vain as they struggled to 207-8.

"When you start losing you get stuck in a rut. When you get that first win, you hopefully get out of it. There is still a long way to go and we have plenty of time to turn things around.

"I have no doubt in my mind that we won't be relegated. We've played three games. If we win our next three then we're right back up there. Our ambitions haven't changed - we're aiming for a top five finish and I think we're still capable of that. We have a great team spirit that hasn't flagged. We will click," promised O'Leary.

This weekend Sudbrook are home to Pentyrch who lost at home to St Fagans on the weekend. The match starts at the Deepweir Ground at 1pm.