It was another disappointing post-season effort from CYMS on Friday night as Hugh Le Lievre's men lost to Rugby Union by 145 runs in a T20 Royal Hotel Cup preliminary final.
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After winning the toss, the away side made the obvious decision to bat first but might have regretted it after they lost two wickets for five runs, thanks to some tidy work from Angus Wilson (3/20) and Mick Delaney (1/22).
But, when Ryan Peacock (30) and Martin Jeffrey (49) came out to bat, those concerns were somewhat put to bed.
The duo got to work as they turned in an 81-run partnership which was more than half of the 145 runs put on the board by Rugby Union.
Although it was a nice recovery from Rugby, the total didn't necessarily feel like a match-winning one when Mick Delaney (13) and Vusi Sibanda (1) opened up the innings for the hosts.
But, when the former Zimbabwe representative was dismissed by Jonah Ruzgas (1/9), it started an ugly trend for the home side as Jack Cale (0), Mick Delaney and Dave Neil (3) all followed in quick succession, leaving CYMS 4/25 and looking for answers.
Luckily for CYMS, Tom Belmonte (50) was on his best behaviour but it wasn't enough to get his men across the line.
For Belmonte, the result was particularly disappointing considering the way in which the bowling attack played.
"We had an excellent start with them having two down for not many," Belmonte said.
"There was some excellent bowling from Delaney and Wilson. We kept them below 150 which we were confident we could chase."
But, when they grabbed the bat, things turned pear shaped.
"We lost too many wickets too early and then fairly regularly after that," he said.
"They bowled tight line and length which was difficult to put away. I thought their field settings were also very good.
"We were very disappointed with our efforts with the stick, especially after our bowlers put us in a great position. We'll look to next season to break the semi-final curse."
Rugby Union moves on to play Orange City in the decider.
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