Royston slumped to a disappointing eight-wicket defeat at home to Balsham in the Mr Cricket CCA Junior League 1 South on Saturday.

Having won the toss and elected to bat first, the Crows’ opening pair of Martin Leary and Mick Miller began slowly but solidly, reaching 44-0 after 13 overs.

However, Royston struggled to kick on, and the introduction of change bowler Barnes (10-4-12-2) into the attack saw runs particularly hard to come by as the Crows laboured to 49-1 at the 20 over mark, Miller having departed for 22.

Leary (29) fell in the 27th over, and the wickets of Max Kindred (0) and Sam Montague-Fuller (11) quickly followed as Royston were unable to harness any momentum leading into the last 10 overs.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, with both Paul Miller (16) and Richard Temple (10) unable to rally the Crows to a strong first innings total.

A late cameo from Phil Hall (13 not out) took Royston up to 129-8 off 40 overs, however against a strong Balsham outfit this proved to be well short.

Opening bowler Pete Merrell gave the hosts hope, removing Whiteside and Squire for ducks in his opening spell to leave Balsham 6-2 after seven overs, while Temple also delivered a tidy spell.

Barnes (44 not out) and Gard (unbeaten on 75) batted well and with skipper Leary employing several bowling options to no avail, the pair chased down the inadequate target with ease.

Stand in skipper Martin Leary said: “Our game plan in recent times has been to put runs on the board and then defend a total, and this has generally been very successful.

“However, currently our batsmen aren’t doing the business and consequently we’re simply not giving our bowlers anything to bowl at.”

n Royston 2nds moved to the top of the table with a convincing win over Barrington helped by Vijay Gorantla’s century.

Captain Bonham Harper won the toss and elected to bat first with his side making 214-3 off 40 overs, Gorantla reached his ton with three sixes and eight fours.

Barrington were skittled in their reply for just 59 off 17.4 overs. Harper took 3-23, Evan Goldman 3-16, Ryan Judge 1-5 and Owen Reader 2-12.