GERRARDS Cross CC got little respite from what is turning into a troubled summer as they were beaten by Aston Rowant in Division One of the Home Counties League.

It was their fifth defeat in seven league games and they and bottom side Harefield are slowly being cut adrift at the foot of the table.

Inserted on a difficult pitch, they were all out for 133, which Rowant chased down with little fuss and Cross captain Steve Rimmer has urged his team to knuckle down and change the momentum of the season.

He said: “We've got stuck in an early season trough and we need to snap out of it and change the momentum. Things aren’t going our way, but we need to stick together and grind it out.”

Batting woes were compounded by mistakes in the field on Saturday, when they had to wait for Jamie Hoddle's 43 at number eight for their first noteworthy score, before both Rowant openers were dropped with the score on 16 when Cross needed to make early inroads to have a chance.

Rimmer said: “It was a challenging wicket, which was quite disappointing after the weather we’ve had.

“If we’d bowled first we’d have probably done to them what they did to us, but we got the wrong end of the wicket with the toss and were bowled out quite convincingly from the top order’s perspective.

“Then we dropped both their openers with the score on 16. That would have set the game up and we’d have given them a run for their money, but they got their foot in the door after that.”

Tim Morgan went on to make a watchful 42 for Rowant, before Chris Watling’s unbeaten 31 took the game away from Cross.

Rimmer said: “We’ve only had one good wicket to play on all season. The batters are out of form and need time in the middle and a bit of confidence.

“It’s not like they haven’t done well before. The same bunch of lads got runs last summer and were on the crest of wave.

“But the momentum isn’t with us at the moment and we need to find a way of shifting it.”

It won’t get much easier this weekend.

On Saturday they host leaders Burnham before playing second-placed Banbury in the cup a day later.