You can have a talented batting order but that means nothing if the running between the wickets is pedestrian.
Ruahine Motors Central Hawke's Bay found that out the hard way when Complete Flooring Napier Technical Old Boys thumped them by six wickets at Nelson Park, Napier, on Saturday.
"The key thing about the game was that they kept running themselves out so it was quite bizarre," said NTOB coach Dale Smidt yesterday after CHB gifted them three wickets after the visitors won the toss and elected to bat for a sub-par 91 all out in 32 overs of the Property Brokers one-day HBCA premier men's competition.
"It was nothing brilliant from our guys but poor communication from them. A guy was either stranded in the middle or both batsmen were at the same end so they must have been very disappointed," Smidt said after NTOB comfortably overhauled the target with 4-92 from 22.2 overs.
CHB co-coach Mike Lewis was disappointed, saying: "We were our own worst enemies. Tech played brilliantly and we just weren't good enough so no excuses from us at the end of the day."