'I need bit of luck' - O'Leary (From Free Press Series)

'I need bit of luck' - O'Leary

SUDBROOK player-coach Mark O'Leary has admitted he's struggling to find the batting form he has grown accustomed to in recent seasons though he insisted it's not down to the pressures of being the club's coach.

The Deepweir boss has failed to hit a half century this season in the Premiership, admitting he needs to be batting a lot more runs at his position in the batting order.

"I'm not performing with the bat," said O'Leary. "I can not rely on other players. There's responsibility on my shoulders to do better. I'm four or five in the batting order and that means I have to score better than I am.

"It's not down to the pressure of the job. It's is a big position to hold, but I just think I am on a bad run. I need just one innings to click and I will be fine. The problem is once you are down you are down. I'm playing every Sat-urday and Sunday and putting in the training, I just need a bit of luck to go my way."

In the meantime though O'Leary has more immediate concerns with his side's bowling. Against Cardiff on Saturday, some shoddy bowling cost Sudbrook a deserved victory against the city high flyers who won by just 11 runs.

"We were so close, but yet so far. Our bowling was bad in parts and we gave away some cheap runs, which cost us dearly when you think we only lost by 11. We could have won it if our bowling had been tighter.

"You expect a few bad bowls in an innings, but not that many. We were throwing too many short or on the half volley and not in the right areas. That's not good enough.

"It didn't help our concentration being on and off the field so much with the rain. Bowlers like to get into a rhythm and that was impossible on Saturday in those conditions. It would have been nice to have won to be honest," said O'Leary.

Strong batting from Robert Voke 55 and Carl Morgan 42 drove Sudbrook agonisingly close to Cardiff's 258 tally, but by the end of their innings they had mustered a cruel 247 runs.

Now all eyes turn to this Saturday's mouth-watering derby against Chepstow - a match O'Leary has no intention of losing.

"I do not want to lose this one," he insisted. "We've built an impressive record against them over the last four or five seasons. They haven't beaten us in that time and that's the way I want things to remain. We have to do the basics right, build partnerships and bowl and field tightly.

"I'm confident we can win, but we must respect them. Just because they're having a bad season doesn't mean they are there to be taken. This is rivalry that goes back years and they will want to win as much as us."

Chepstow's game against St Fagans on Saturday was cancelled because of the rain. They remain rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table with just one victory this campaign.

Saturday's match at Chepstow starts at 1pm.

Sudbrook lost in their final preliminary Lord's Cup game against Usk by ten runs, but will move into the next stage of the competition having won enough of their matches so far to progress.