Wood captain says defeat made worse by victories for rivals

Tom Clarke says Harold Wood’s 102-run defeat at home to Chelmsford was further compounded by wins for their relegation rivals.

Both South Woodford and Ilford triumphed at the weekend, leaving Wood 15 points adrift at the bottom of the Premier Division.

And while Clarke was upset to lose ground on those around, he was also left to rue what might have been against the league leaders.

“It’s disappointing when those around you win and you don’t but you can’t do too much about it,” he said.

“To have had Chelmsford 42-5 and let them get 200 was disappointing but credit to their guys in the middle who batted really well.

“With that score, there was always a chance we could win but after putting ourselves in a good position at 90-3, we capitulated. It was another performance where things went well and things went bad.”

One of the brighter notes for Wood in the defeat against Chelmsford was the performance of Maruf Chowdhury.

The fast bowler finished figures of 5-25 and Clarke is pleased to see him return to form in recent weeks after a difficult start to the season.

“Maruf struggled with injury a bit early on but now he’s almost back to his best and is a real weapon for us.

“He’s bowling well at the minute, like everyone else, especially the seamers.

“But every game we seem to have had a big partnership against us so we must be more clever in trying to break them up earlier.”

Another man who caught Clarke’s eye against the table toppers was Hamza Ahmed, who top score in reply with 43, and the Wood skipper believes other members of the team can learn from the young batter.”

“Hamza is some who we can bat around and I was really impressed with how well he saw of the new ball against a good Chelmsford attack.

“It was a shame that he couldn’t get a big score but he worked hard for his knock and perhaps showed some of the older players how to bat.”