Mark Alleyne as no excuses
Source -
epost.co.uk
Gloucestershire head coach Mark Alleyne was in no mood to offer excuses after watching his side trounced by Surrey in last night's Twenty20 Cup quarter-final at Bristol.
Beaten by 80 runs in front of an 8,000 sell-out crowd, the Glo'sters fell a long way short of the standards they set in winning their group earlier this month.
And Alleyne admitted: "This was a very poor performance. There can be no excuses."
Surrey made a super-charged start on their way to posting 224-5, while the home side were skittled for 144 in 18.5 overs.
"We started badly and were off the pace big-time," declared Alleyne. "We had no energy in the field and were just as lethargic when chasing." Surrey's England all-rounder Rikki Clarke was twice dropped on his way to a match-winning 79 not out and Alleyne conceded: "That just about summed up our night.
"You only had to look at Surrey to see they had good energy in the field, even when they were winning the game comfortably. Without doubt, they wanted to win it more than we did."
Gloucestershire had previously lost back-to-back County Championship matches against Essex and Worcestershire and were forced to reshuffle their attack after losing the services of captain Jon Lewis to England and fast bowler Carl Greenidge to injury.
But Alleyne declined to use either factor as an excuse.
He said: "Jon has been in every England squad this season, so we have had to get used to playing without him. The injury to Carl meant we had to change our bowling line-up and we got it wrong."
He added: "People respond differently to defeat. Personally, losing the last two games would have bouyed me up and made me even more determined to get myself up for this game.
"That's what I expected from the guys, but it didn't happen."
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