Diss captain eyeing up wins in bid to move away from Norfolk Cricket Alliance Premier Division relegation danger

While nobody is hitting the panic button just yet, Diss Cricket Club captain Mark Williamson has conceded that his side are involved in a battle to stay in the Norfolk Cricket Alliance Premier Division.

Last weekend’s 86-run defeat at the hands of Fakenham has left Williamson’s men sitting in the relegation zone, with 13 points separating themselves from Norwich in the first available safe spot.

With eight matches remaining the skipper is well aware that there are still plenty of points left to play for.

However, he has urged his team to put some wins on the board sooner rather than later.

“We need a couple of wins on the bounce, that is clear,” said Williamson. “It has been a tough first half of the season but the sooner we pick up those wins the better because we do not want to be in desperate need come the last two or three games.

“We know we are going to be in a battle from here until the end and the second half of the season is going to be equally tough, but at the same time we know we can compete at this level so nobody is panicking.”

Diss’ struggles this term have followed on the back of a 2018 campaign in which they impressed upon their return to the Premier Division, finishing sixth and more than 50 points clear of the drop zone.

The results have not been as positive this time around – Diss have won just two of their 10 games – but Williamson is making no excuses.

“We have been really poor in a couple of games and in other games marginal decisions have gone against our key players,” he added.

“We were also missing four or five players for the game at Fakenham last weekend but we cannot make excuses.

“We are where we are in the table because we have not been good enough so far.”

Dave Tooke and James Hardy will return to the Diss side for tomorrow’s home match against Stow (12pm), but Rob Tooke is unavailable for selection.