RADCLIFFE Cricket Club vice captain Jake Wilde has left to join Bolton League side Daisy Hill.

The wicketkeeper did not feature in either of Radcliffe's two matches at the weekend, missing a close-fought six-wicket loss to Prestwich in the GMCL20 on Friday and a humbling 203-run league defeat at Westleigh on Saturday.

Wilde is expected to make his debut at Daisy this weekend and while Radcliffe skipper Martyn Coates believes they will not be left short-handed, he admits losing his second-in-command is a blow.

"We have two other wicketkeepers in the squad so we are well catered for in that area, but Jake is a good player so we are obviously sad to lose him," said Coates.

The Radcliffe captain is more concerned about his bowling attack after giving up more than 60 extras at Westleigh in Division Two of the Greater Manchester Cricket League.

He was missing regular bowlers Adam Sajewicz and Connor Gately, who are due to return for Friday's trip to Elton in the GMCL20 and Saturday's visit of Edenfield, but Coates has called on his players to up their game for this weekend's matches.

"To give away 62 extras in an innings is never good, is it?" said Coates, after his side conceded 47 wides, four no balls, two byes and nine leg byes.

"The truth is we were just short on players, especially bowlers.

"Obviously, as Westleigh's total got bigger, the bowling got more ragged.

"And when a big total is set in the first innings, often the second innings is over pretty quickly as teams try to chase runs.

"That's what happened to us, but I think we could still have applied ourselves a lot better with the bat."

Westleigh piled on 296-9 in their 50 overs, which included 88 from Toby Leeds, while Radcliffe's Usman Malik took 4-66.

Malik failed to fire with the bat, however. He was out for a duck in only the second ball of the innings and Radcliffe never recovered, managing just 93 after Westleigh's Robert Entwistle (3-35), Kyle Ogden (3-30) and Scott Ralph (3-9) each took three wickets.

It was a far cry from Radcliffe's performance in the field at home to Prestwich in the T20.

Gately top-scored with 25 as Radcliffe posted a relatively modest total of 113-6, but the Premier Division leaders only had four balls to spare when they passed their target.

"It was a really good game," said Coates. "Prestwich were made to work hard for every run, we fielded and bowled really well.

"I have said it before, though, we need to put a complete performance together to win a game, giving it our full focus with bat and ball."

Coates has urged the local community to come out in support of the club, inviting cricket lovers to join Tuesday night training and also get down to the Racecourse Ground on Saturday to take in their match against Edenfield.

He added: "It is the Radcliffe Carnival so we are hoping families will continue that carnival spirit in the bar here, have a few pints and watch a few overs."