WYCOMBE CC start the second half of the Home Counties Premier League season with renewed hope.

They spotted in their losing draw at Tring Park on Saturday a glint of better things to come after a change in the bowling line-up paid off and although their batsmen failed to back it up director of cricket Keith Newell believes it is at least a move in the right direction.

He said: “There was an improvement, definitely. The bowling was a lot, lot better.

“We worked better as a unit and applied a lot of pressure on Tring.

“They played and missed a lot, and keeping them to 245 was a good effort on a flat wicket.”

Newell promised changes after Wycombe’s home defeat to Aston Rowant, and out of the team went Irish international Pete Connell – who was unavailable anyway – and spinner Chris Sketchley.

Their places were taken by overseas player Matt Thomson and an emerging talent at London Road, Balal Hussain.

Although neither of the newcomers ripped through the Park order with match-winning figures, both took wickets and Newell says they did enough to retain their places for tomorrow’s trip to Welwyn Garden City.

He said: “Pete hasn’t bowled as well as he can and Chris hasn’t reached his usual very high standards either.

“But the guys that came in were very good and they’ve proven in one fixture that they can perform at this level.

“They are different bowlers [to Connell and Sketchley] and are more prepared to bowl a line and length than go looking for wickets.

“This standard isn’t anything new to Matt, who was playing decent cricket in Australia, and Balal is a massive talent who can excel at this level – it just depends if he wants it enough.

“They should both get another go this weekend.”

The same applies to the batsmen despite another lacklustre display that did nothing to suggest that department of the team is now on the right path.

Of the top six, only Nitin Sehgal made a notable score (38) before losing his wicket in slapdash manner, and three quick wickets in the middle order ended any slight chance of a successful run chase.

Newell said: “It still needs improvement. We keep talking to the guys and they keep making the same mistakes.

“It’s the same thing, a lack of application.”

David Cranfield-Thompson was the architect of their survival with a stubborn knock of 46 not out in 125 balls, with Newell providing decent support at the other end with 23 from 52 balls.

Newell said: “We went back to how we did it last year with Nick Robinson at three, but losing a cluster of three wickets in a short space of time knocked the stuffing out of us.

“It’s a shame because the hard work was done in the first half of the match but we didn’t hold our nerve when we were batting.

“It let us down again and we had to battle for a draw over an extended period of time.

“But overall I was encouraged by what we did at Tring, there were a lot of positives to take out of the fixture.”

l Wycombe host Ealing in the ECB National Cup on Sunday and on Wednesday play Harpenden in the National Twenty20.