Cumbria slumped to a heavy defeat at Bedfordshire – their second in the MCA Championship – after the opening loss to Northumberland.
Although a different format,it wasn’t the preparation Gary Pratt’s men were looking for ahead of their prestigious MCA Trophy 50-over semi-final against Cambridgeshire at Keswick on Sunday.
Always forced to play for the draw, after being set an unlikely349 to win on the final day, Cumbria started solidly but fell away toa disappointing 114 all out – losing by 234 runs.
Bedfordshire already had a big lead overnight and were just looking for quick runs as they took their total to 269-8 before declaring.
Disciplined batting was required an the openers Nathan Waterston (29) and Ben Davidson (16) puton 47 before being separated. But that signalled a collapse and thye highest scoring batsman of the remainder was Sam Sharp.
He had spent Monday in bed after going down with a bug and had been unable to bat in the first innings, but despite not being fully recovered he did his bit and had the second highest individual score with 20.
But Cumbria did lose Matty Lowden who was forced to retire on five not out after suffering an injury.
In the end Cumbria were well beaten with Matt Coles (5-71) and Tom Brett (4-30) doing the damage between them. They come home with four points while Bedfordshire, celebrating their first win after two draws, pocket 22 points.
Bedfordshire 239 and 269-8 dec beat Cumbria 160 and 114 by 234 runs.
