A POOR day in the field was behind Walshaw’s failure to win a third straight match on Saturday.

After back-to-back wins in the Greater Manchester League Premier Division, Walshaw failed to defend a total cricket chairman Mike Mills says should have seen them to victory against visitors Prestwich.

The top flight’s leading run-scorer, Dylan Blignaut, had led the way with the bat, putting on 118 for the fifth wicket alongside Ally Dickson, and the South African eventually departed for 126.

With Dickson’s 39, and contributions from professional Saif Bhojani (27) and Jack McClung (22) Walshaw posted 260-6.

But that was as good as it got for the Sycamore Road side, as their failure to stem the flow of runs with regular wickets meant Prestwich reached a revised target of 230 for the loss of two wickets, with their pro Gihahn Cloete batting through for an unbeaten 102.

“We put on more than enough runs on Saturday, or so we thought” said Mills. “It was a good cricket wicket and a good game to watch but we should have been able to defend that.

“To go into their innings with 260 on the board was pleasing but we didn’t bowl well enough as a unit and didn’t field particularly well either.

“It was a really good knock from Dylan, I feel for him because it’s his second big ton of the year and we have been beaten in both games. He is a class act, when he hits a ball it stays hit, he cleared the ground a few times. It was even better because he had to come in and do a rebuilding job before he could cut loose.

“So, with Dylan, Ally and our pro Saif Bhojani in good form, there are positives from the game but we didn’t bowl or field well enough at all.”

The weekend wasn’t a complete washout for Walshaw, as they recovered to beat Astley and Tyldesley in a Cross Cup match the following day.

After putting on 165-9, Blignaut again top-scoring with 56, they skittled A&T out for just 105, Stephen Holt (4-30) leading the way with the ball.

Elsewhere, Bury never got close to their target as they fell to a heavy defeat at Roe Green.

The hosts batted first and put on 215-6 with Bury’s Jordan Belston taking 2-19.

But the reply did not make a 34th over as they were bowled out for just 85, Mumtaz Mirza hitting the visitors’ highest score of 15.

Woodbank extended their lead at the top of the table to five points by beating Denton West by 38 runs.

After hitting an all-out total of 200 they bowled their opponents out for 162, Steve Dearden taking 4-23.