IT was another miserable day for Royston as they lost at home on Saturday to Cottenham in their Cambs CA Senior League Division Two fixture. Fielding first, Royston made a good start, reducing Cottenham to 50 for 3 off 14 overs thanks to two wickets from

IT was another miserable day for Royston as they lost at home on Saturday to Cottenham in their Cambs CA Senior League Division Two fixture.

Fielding first, Royston made a good start, reducing Cottenham to 50 for 3 off 14 overs thanks to two wickets from Richard Temple and one from Chris Hootton.

Thereafter, though, Royston took their foot off the pedal and it was a further 48 runs before the next wicket fell.

From 86 for 4, Cottenham took command, with Talaga putting anyway anything loose that was offered up by the Royston bowlers.

Although the next highest score in the Cottenham innings was just 25, Talaga was able to take the majority of the strike and finally reached his hundred in the 44th over.

Although Royston had taken wickets steadily throughout the last 15 overs, and only conceded 40 from the final 10 overs, 196-9 always looked like being 20 or so runs above par on a wicket that was one of the best seen in recent years at Therfield.

As it turned out, the Cottenham score was somewhat more than a competitive total as Royston suffered another batting collapse.

From 59-1 off 24 overs, Royston collapsed to 96 all out losing their last nine wickets for just 37 runs in 11 overs, with only Matthew Graham (38) and Richard Temple (18) reaching double figures.

Team coach Richard Temple said:" We were inconsistent with the ball, and offered up too many full tosses, half-volleys, and boundary balls.

"If we had held our catches and got the century- maker out early, we'd have been chasing only 120 or so.

"We then allowed the opposition bowlers to really get on top of us.

"We knew we were a little light on batting, but once we lost three wickets the collapse just seemed inevitable.

"And although the pressure was on us to score six an over, we just seemed to give up, with no one even showing enough fight to try to stick it out to get as many bonus points as possible.

"We've a few players returning over the next few weeks, and one or two new players making their debuts, so we're hopeful of strengthening all areas of the team by the end of the month.