Skipper Simon Hole was philosophical in defeat following Shipton-under-Wychwood’s four-wicket loss at Carew in the Persimmon Village Cup in Pembrokeshire.

Hole pointed at a poor last ten overs with the bat and some unusually wayward bowling as the key reasons for the defeat in the last-16 tie.

Although he top-scored with 77 in Shipton’s 193-9, Hole believes they were around 30 runs short of a par total.

He said: “I would have happily taken a duck if we had won the game. But it was just one of those days.

“We were in a good position batting first at 150-4, and with the depth in batting we have, we should probably have scored 220-230, so were very disappointed.

“That said, Carew had the better of the conditions. It was a bad toss to lose, because the pitch dried out and they batted well.”

Hole was also disappointed with his bowlers, who had an unusually low-key day.

“We didn’t bowl very well,” he added. “We bowled too many four balls and were just giving them a bad ball to hit every over.

“Although we took wickets, our bad balls just kept taking the pressure off them.

“I also felt we had their top-scorer (Tim Hicks) caught behind, but the umpire didn’t give it.

“But no sour grapes, the umpire didn’t give it, and we have to accept decisions and get on with it.

“We just weren’t at the races. On our day, we are superior to them, but fair play to them, they chased down well.”

Hole says Shipton will now focus on the MP Sports Cherwell League, and he believes they can still win the title.

He said: “We have Cumnor and Oxford Downs coming up, so if we win those, we’re right back in the hunt.

“This defeat hurt us, but it gives us the impetus to focus on the league.”