BANBURY captain Richard Kaufman was not too disheartened after his side lost their first game for six matches against Slough in the Home Counties Premier League.
Banbury suffered a three-wicket defeat but Kaufman felt his side had given a good account of themselves.
“It was one of those games that was 50-50 and had both sides interested,” he said.
“We picked up nine points so I’m not too disheartened.
“I came off the field feeling satisifed with our performance knowing we had played well.”
The captain was all the more pleased with the team’s response because they were swithout two of their most influential players – Craig Haupt and Simon Launder.
Haupt was serving the first of a two-match ban handed out by the league following an altercation with the Radlett wicketkeeper two weeks ago.
Banbury got off to a steady start as openers Chris Smith (35) and Paul Taylor (39) put on 80 in 22 overs for the first wicket.
The introduction of Tom Lambert into the attack split them as four wickets fell for three runs in 20 balls.
Kaufman and Steve Beck went without troubling the scorers but Ian Tew (79) and Marc Rorich (44) retrieved the situation in a fifth-wicket stand of 100 runs.
“Tewy came in under pressure when we were struggling and he was very mature,” said Kaufman.
A late surge took the final total to 229-9 to set up an interesting chase.
Kaufman said: “I felt it was competitive but we paid the price for dropping two catches at vital times.”
Off-spinner Jimmy Phillips (6-109) bowled unchanged from the start and collected his first five-wicket haul of the season, if a little expensive. The visitors finished up on 230-7 off 46.3 overs.
Tew keeps his batting spot in place of the banned Haupt for Saturday’s home match against league leaders Henley.
Opener Chris Smith, who is away on holiday, is replaced by Calum Taylor while spinner Paul Hill drops to the second team to make way for Simon Launder.