Steelbacks pay the price for failing to kick on during defeat to Surrey
George Bartlett felt Northants Steelbacks were made to pay for failing to kick on with the bat as they were beaten by six wickets at Surrey.
The Steelbacks were limited to 254 for eight in their 50 overs before Surrey got home with ease inside 43.1 overs.
Bartlett (62) and Nathan McSweeney (64) had put together another strong partnership but once they departed in quick succession, the Steelbacks found it tough.
And Bartlett said: “My run out was unfortunate but it does happen in cricket.
"I’m not sure what the ball came off – perhaps a bit of the bowler’s hand and a bit of knee. It was one of those things.
“I enjoy batting with Nathan (McSweeney). He’s a class act and good to bounce off when we are out in the middle. We’ve enjoyed some good partnerships already in this competition and today we were trying to build a platform.
“But we’ve not really managed to kick on again and I think we needed to get up to around 300, which was probably around a par total today.”
Benji Floros took four for 60 for Surrey.
And Floros said: “All our bowlers chipped in and we managed to squeeze them well during the middle overs. Everyone got their rewards for that.
“It is not easy bowling here at Guildford because of the short boundaries and the pitch was pretty true, but everyone didn’t really miss (their lengths and lines) and so that made it easier for the bowler coming on at the other end too.
“It’s really nice to get the win today and come back from the defeat (against Leicestershire) here on Friday.
"It will give us added confidence and we have a good squad so hopefully we can continue to do well in this competition.”