Durose calls for Royton to get priorities right

CRICKET: ROYTON captain Alan Durose wants to draw a line under his side’s dramatic defeat at the hands of Middleton in the John Willie Lees Twenty20 semi-finals and focus on league form.

The visitors were chasing 126 and on their way to a comfortable victory, with a return of 90 for three from the first 11 overs.

But a middle-order collapse saw them lose five wickets for just seven runs as they were dismissed for a desperately disappointing 109 by Middleton, the eventual winners of the competition.

Now Durose is turning his attention to the remainder of the Lake Garage Central Lancashire League campaign, with the Paddock outfit currently occupying ninth place in the table.

He said: “It is a huge disappointment to go out of the competition after being in such a strong position to beat Middleton.

“The key now is to learn from our mistakes and return to form in the league.

“At the end of the day, the league is our bread and butter and it has to take priority.

“We are halfway up the table at the moment and the aim is to bounce back from the cup defeat and keep improving over the course of the season.”

Durose does not have to wait long to gauge his players’ reaction — Royton entertain their conquerers Middleton on Saturday, before travelling to Crompton 24 hours later.

The skipper added: “As I have said in the past, it is not about revenge, it is a case of showing some progress.

“We play Middleton in the Wood Cup final as well but I treat them all as separate games rather than revenge missions.”