Skipper Davis sees green shoots of recovery in Cookham Dean's loss to Henley

Greg Davis

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It's been a less than ideal start to the season for Cookham Dean, with the side losing its first four matches, however, skipper Greg Davis felt he saw green shoots of recovery in Saturday’s defeat to Henley 2nds and believes their first win is just around the corner.

Dean sit bottom of the Thames Valley League Division 1 with only 37 points after five match weekends, the opening game washed out by the weather, but Davis insists the team’s spirit remains high heading into

Saturday’s clash at second placed Falkland.

With players still being

recruited to the first team and young talent being brought through from the youth sides and seconds, he’s confident results will turn in the coming weeks.

The most disappointing aspect of Saturday’s six-wicket defeat to Henley was the side’s inability to bat out their 50 overs They managed only 170 before being dismissed in the 42nd over, leaving plenty of runs out in the field.

Jake Lawson (27) and Dileepa Jayalath (27) both applied themselves well, while a few others, including Sim Mangat (10no) reached double figures, but Davis felt they needed to bat out their overs to give themselves hope, and put pressure on the leaders. It proved a comfortable chase in the end, with Henley making it in the 43rd over for the loss of four wickets.

“We've been making improvements week on week, which is always promising, but it’s felt like we’ve had a tough start to the season,” said Davis.

“Results haven’t gone our way and we’ve had unavailability and injury to contend with on top of that which doesn’t help things.

“We’re looking forward to the next 13 game weekends. It’s a long season ahead and there’s plenty of time still to catch up to the teams ahead of us in the table.

“We’re recruiting well and had another couple of new faces playing for us on Saturday. Hopefully, those changes will motivate some better performances with the bat and the ball.”

Dean are yet to bat out their overs in any of the four matches they’ve played and that’s been the story of a disappointing start to the season for Davis and his men.

The skipper is therefore hoping this weekend’s change of format will suit his side.

“We have seen some marginal improvements but let’s hope on Saturday with the change of format we see a bigger improvement,” he said. “Henley normally start off very well and playing them early in the season is maybe our misfortune, but I think we’ll be more competitive in our reverse game. It ended up being a comprehensive win for them, but had we batted out our overs and put 220 on the board, they may have had to play differently. But it’s a long season and hopefully, when I speak next week, it will be on a more positive note, and we’ll have our first win under our belt.

“On Saturday, I was the second oldest and I'm 25, so on average we must be the youngest team in the league. We are bringing through Cookham juniors, players who have been with the club their whole life.

“Some of them have probably played more games of cricket than I have, and we have three or four 14-year-olds in the second team and they’re exciting. I expect to see them come through the ranks in the coming seasons. We’re a club that brings through players and we will reap the rewards from them home grown players becoming superstars in the coming years. Team morale is still there, and everyone is supporting each other despite having zero wins from our first four matches.

“Falkland is a nice place to go and bat so let’s hope we make the most of that.”