Craig Wallace admits Caley Highlanders were given a harsh lesson during Friday evening’s crushing Tilney T20 Blitz defeat to in-form Eastern Knights at Forthill.
The Highlanders were bidding to bounce back from defeat to the Warriors a fortnight earlier but a dismal batting display saw them make just 100 before the visitors raced to the target.
A blistering George Munsey half-century was the highlight of the evening as the Knights cruised to an eight-wicket win in only 8.1 overs.
Home skipper Wallace admitted: “It’s very disappointing to lose and specially to lose the way we did. We were definitely taught a lesson in how to play T20 cricket today.
“To win the toss and bat like that wasn’t great and is definitely where we lost the game.”
On what looked like a perfect evening for free-scoring cricket none of the Highlanders batsmen were able to make any impression against a well-drilled Eastern Knights attack.
Indeed, the writing was on the wall from the moment Michael Leask holed-out to Ali Evans off Mark Watt from the second ball of the match.
Wallace himself played a few attacking shots to get the board ticking before picking out Hayes van der Berg to give Elliot Ruthven a cheap wicket.
Batsmen continued to come and go at an alarming rate though Chris Venske looked as if he might lead a recovery, reaching 24 before offering a sharp return catch to van der Berg.
At 63-8 it looked as if the Highlanders would struggle to survive the twenty overs but some tail-end resistance saw them claw their way to 100-9 at the close.
In reply, Munsey and Mike Carson came out with all guns blazing, the pair taking 27 off the first two overs.
Carson perished in the pursuit of quick runs, skying a catch to keeper Wallace off Scott Cameron, but Munsey showed all his class and power in running the home attack ragged.
The Scotland star accelerated to his half-century by hitting four boundaries and a six in one over off Jack Hogarth.
Another attempted clearance saw the left-hander caught by Leask off Ryan Brown but by then the result was a formality.
The Highlanders have two chances to reignite their Blitz campaign when they face the Western Warriors and the Knights again in a double header on Friday back at Forthill and Wallace added: “It’s going to be a massive day for us.
“We need to win both matches to get ourselves back in it and we have a lot of improving to do before then.
“George showed us how to go about it.”
