ROYSTON S battle with relegation will go to the wire after they picked up what could prove to be vital bonus points despite losing to Barrington. Having won the toss, Barrington elected to bat first, and this looked a good decision as Royston s bowlers st

ROYSTON'S battle with relegation will go to the wire after they picked up what could prove to be vital bonus points despite losing to Barrington.

Having won the toss, Barrington elected to bat first, and this looked a good decision as Royston's bowlers struggled to extract any pace or movement from an unresponsive pitch.

Mark Ferrari was in particularly fine form for Barrington, and he and partner Jarmen took the score past 100 in just 16 overs.

Royston did not help themselves by dropping Ferrari four times during his innings, and the batsman made them pay dearly for these errors, scoring 157 before he was finally caught off the bowling of Chris Hootton.

Nick Hootton removed Jarmen shortly afterwards, lbw for 75, but by then the damage had already been done.

Barrington finished on 296-4, a total bolstered by the 48 extras conceded by Royston.

Royston started well, but lost Martyn Leek (8) and captain Craig Holson (9) early on.

John Adler scored freely, together with Paul Miller, who took on the Barrington attack with relish.

His rapid 35 included one towering six which cleared the pavilion roof.

Unfortunately the rest of the middle order offered little support to Adler, who made 79, Royston's top score this season, before succumbing with a handful of overs remaining.

But the tail managed to hang on, and took the total on to 202 to earn those valuable bonus points.

To avoid a third successive relegation, Royston now have to win their final game, at March II, and hope that several other results go in their favour.