THINGS may look somewhat bleak for Radcliffe CC this season, but club captain Michael Farley says there are better times to come.

The Racecourse men remain rooted to the foot of Greater Manchester League Division 2B after Saturday’s heavy defeat at Uppermill by 101 runs.

The table-toppers batted first and Radcliffe did brilliantly to dismiss them for just 144.

But, with only Martyn Coates making a double-figure contribution, top-scoring with 11, they were then skittled out for just 43, Dave Roberts and Andy Jones taking five wickets apiece for them.

Disappointing though that defeat – Radcliffe’s 13th of the 2018 season, making relegation almost inevitable – was, the skipper is taking a longer-term view and remaining upbeat about his side’s chances of progression over the next few years.

“We feel we need to keep this team together, we’re a big family at Radcliffe and we’ve come through the ranks together,” he said. “We’re taking to the field with 10 mates every week.

“We want to win, don’t get me wrong, and having a good pro helps, but we’ll stick together and we’ll give 100 per cent in every game – I’m excited to think about what this young team can be in a couple of years’ time with a bit of experience.”

Radcliffe have shown signs of improvement in recent weeks but on Saturday lost to the side Farley firmly believes will take the title, and do it with untypical civility.

“We were beaten by the best team in the division – by a mile,” he added. “And even though we got a smashing it was probably the nicest game of cricket I’ve been in.

“I expect them to go on and win it and prove nice guys can finish first.

“If you’d offered us bowling them out for 144 we’d have snapped your hand off so we’d bowled really well but on the same pitch, with a bit of green on it, they exploited it even better than we did.”