​HEAD coach Matt Carter admitted his Finchampstead CC players were ‘very disappointed’ that they failed to beat Home Counties Premier League Division One title rivals Banbury, writes Dave Wright.

Yet they came mighty close to securing a seventh straight win, falling just two runs short in a thrilling finish at Finchampstead Park.

Replying to Banbury’s 195-9, they ended on 194-8 after managing only two runs off the final ball of the day when a boundary was required.

“It was frustrating to get so close as it was a game we should have won,” said Carter (pictured above).

“We were always confident we could reach our target and very disappointed we didn’t quite get there.

“It was a flat pitch and it was a good bowling performance to keep them to 195 and we were confident we could go on to win the game.

“Unfortunately, we had a very slow period in the middle of our innings when we lost wickets to some stupid shots – myself included.

“Chasing 195, we should never have been in a position of needing six or seven an over in 56 overs.

“We appeared to show a lack of options against their two spinners who bowled really well and tied us down.

“If we had taken five singles off five different overs then we would have won the game comfortably.

“Finding the right options against spin bowling is something we need to work on in the weeks to come. Hopefully the lads will have learned a lesson and won’t make the same the mistakes again.”

Finchampstead looked to be heading for defeat at 114-7 before Jandre Coetzee and Sukhi Kang added 60 for the next wicket before the latter was bowled for 25.

Coetzee, batting at nine, made a gallant effort to win the game, scoring 43 not out off as many balls.

Player-coach Carter commented: “He showed us how to play without getting out to a silly shot by waiting for the bad balls which were there.

“Sukhi batted well with him and if the rest of us had batted like he and JC did then the game would probably have been over by five o’clock.”

While Coetzee has been grabbing the headlines this season with five five-wicket hauls, the South African managed to add only one wicket on Saturday when he had figures of 1-25 off 15 overs. Instead, the bowling honours went to Carter with 4-56 off 19.

“It was nice to be the leading wicket-taker so to speak for once,” added Carter, who admits he has benefited from playing with Coetzee.

“It has been a bit of a learning curve for me to bowl at the other end to him and I have definitely learned from him.

“But he does prefer to use a different type of tactics than me. JC bowls 90 per cent of his balls to hit the stumps, while I bowl most of mine looking to miss the stumps but hoping the batsman will nick it and get caught.

“But I admit he has got a lot more dismissals than I have.”

Carter went on: “The fact we did well with JC only taking one wicket shows we are more than the one-man team many people have been suggesting.

“While I took four wickets, the other two bowlers we used – Max Uttley (2-45) and JJ Dewes (1-63) – also did well and we also have two others in Dan Marles and Andy Rishton we didn’t use, so we still have plenty in the tank as far as the bowling is concerned.”

Despite being held to a draw by Banbury, Finchampstead remain top of the table, although the title race is beginning to hot up with just 10 points separating the top four sides.

They are three points ahead of Henley, Carter’s former club, with Banbury three points behind them. High Wycombe are 10 points adrift of Finch and these two sides clash at London Road on Saturday.

“The other three sides could go top with a win, so it is important we beat Wycombe as we all want to stay at the top of the table,” added Carter, who took another four wickets last Sunday when playing for Berkshire against Shropshire at Shifnal.