Solent Cricket Club may have to possibly take part in an extremely rare bowl out in order to decide what Division they will compete in next year.
Complications caused by a run of cancelled games due to poor weather conditions from the 2023 season means that the team’s position in the country’s premier University cricket league the ‘BUCS’ prem remains yet undecided.
A bowl out is where five bowlers from each side deliver one ball each at an unguarded set of stumps. If the number of wickets is tied after the first five balls per team, the bowling continues and is decided by sudden death.
Current Wiltshire Wicketkeeper and Head Coach of Solent Cricket Club, Thomas Morton spoke about how the uncertainty is affecting his side’s preseason preparations going into next season.
“I think the first thing we need to kind of establish is what league we are going to be in because there is still a lot of things to be established in our BUCS league position because we don’t know yet whether we are going to be in the top league or the league below. That could be down to a bowl out with Bournemouth. Basically, our playoff games were rained off both times we tried to play them and we’re still waiting for an outcome on that. So as soon as we know where we’ll be that’ll shape how we prepare for the season and what our kind of objectives are.”
Morton then goes on to specify how the division his side finds themselves in at the start of April 2024 will affect the team’s expectations as well as their goals and possible aims.
“If we’re in the top league, you know for us realistically in that league it’s always going to be difficult because the standard of the league is so high. So, for us I think remaining competitive in that would be a pretty successful season. In the league below it it’s slightly different because we’ve got the opportunity to win a lot of games.”
Further reflection on last season from the head coach shows he feels the inclement weather led to a lack of rhythm for his team but still refuses to use it as an excuse.
“Short, would be the fairest way of describing last season. A lot of it was affected by weather. It rained so much in April and may that we barely got many games to be honest and I think we probably played more games than other teams in the league which meant we were actually at a bit of a disadvantage because other teams were getting points for rained off games when we weren’t. So that was a bit frustrating, and I think we were always going to be on the back foot because we weren’t able to get in any cricket during preseason. So, without making any excuses, it’s difficult to gather any momentum or real reflections on a season which only consisted of four games of cricket.”
