ROYSTON S season took another nasty turn as they were demolished by table-topping St Ives by eight wickets. Stand-in Royston skipper Simon Seabrook won the toss and elected to bat first, opening with Ken Graham and Martyn Leek. And they started well, wit

ROYSTON'S season took another nasty turn as they were demolished by table-topping St Ives by eight wickets.

Stand-in Royston skipper Simon Seabrook won the toss and elected to bat first, opening with Ken Graham and Martyn Leek.

And they started well, with Graham looking in fine form as he sprayed the ball around with a selection of excellent cover drives and one big six.

While Graham dictated the bowling, Leek saw off Shiravindrarajah, who was moving the ball both ways, and beating the bat.

However, Leek finally succumbed and was caught for 14 from Sequenza's bowling, with Royston suffering a double setback when Matt Graham went lbw.

However, Ken Graham looked set for a big total and reached 50 from 55 deliveries, and he was unlucky to be caught top-edging an attempted mid-wicket flick for 57.

With Martin Goff and Paul Miller at the crease Royston steadied again, with Miller showing flashes of his natural game, demonstrated by one huge straight six.

Goff then fell to Setchell's second spell after he was caught for 19.

And Miller was then joined at the crease by Richard Temple, who made another important middle order contribution of 27.

Once Miller was caught for 37 going for a big hit, Royston's momentum faded as Setchell (12-2-61-3) took three wickets, with Royston's final five batsmen contributing a mere 12 runs, as Temple fell lbw.

Royston ended on a respectable 188 for nine, but on a flat batting track the total should have been nearer 250.

In reply, St Ives raced out of the traps, with Cooksey going on the offensive and roaring to 46.

Alan Hootton (8-1-33-2), the only Royston bowler to take any wickets, then saw off Greiller, caught behind off the glove.

As Cooksey destroyed the bowlers' rhythm, St Ives' Jones capitalised on it, and joined the flurry of runs to reach 78 not out.

Cooksey was then trapped lbw by Hootton four short of 50, with Shiravindrarajah also among the runs.

With wickets in hand St Ives raced towards the total, with Royston bowlers Richard Temple and Chris Hootton unable to make inroads.

Eventually St Ives battered their way to their target from only 29 overs, with Shiravindrarajah finishing on 40 not out.

Royston's Richard Temple said: "It was another poor performance and after a good start with the bat, we should have got at least 200, ideally 230 runs.

"Unfortunately, we lost our way during the middle of the innings and never really got going again.

"Once St Ives reached 100 or so, our heads dropped and it all became far too easy for the opposition to finish us off.

"We've now got three games to go and we'll need to win at least two of those against Fulbourn and March to stand a chance.

"Then we'll see what happens with our other game, and the results around us.