Weston Creek Molonglo captain Michael Delaney says his side's exit in the quarter-finals of the SCG Country Cup isn't a reflection on the standard of Canberra cricket.
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Having progressed as the sole representative from the Canberra first-grade competition into the NSW country knockout tournament, Weston Creek were eliminated after a seven-wicket loss to Dubbo at North Dalton Park in Wollongong on Sunday.
Weston Creek were bowled out for just 167 after being sent in, with Dubbo making light work of the run chase to finish at 3-168 with more than 21 overs to spare.
There have been concerns about the standard of the Canberra first-grade competition after changes to how the ACT Comets team is selected.
Only three Canberra-based players were chosen in the most recent Comets team selected for the Futures League, with the rest either former players who now play in Sydney or others with links to country NSW.
But Delaney didn't believe his team's defeat to Dubbo should be viewed as a sign that the Canberra competition is declining.
"I don't think we're struggling at all with Canberra cricket," Delaney said. "There's good cricketers around the country everywhere. It's just a matter of treating it just like every other game and we weren't able to get on top."
Weston Creek couldn't build any momentum in their innings, losing 3-4 and 3-8 at different stages to slump to 7-99.
A handy contribution of 29 from tailender Corey Ryan and last-man in Joe Slater (16 not out) helped the total to 167.
Despite taking a couple of early wickets, Weston Creek were always on the back foot as Dubbo made the most of their outstanding bowling performance.
"The pitch was a bit hoppy and doing a little bit, but you've got to be able to adapt to those things," Delaney said.
"It was really hard to get in on and really hard to start your innings. We just needed to get through our first 20 runs, and we weren't able to do that."
Weston Creek will have a couple of weeks to regroup before they take on Tuggeranong in the Gallop Cup when the Canberra competition resumes on January 10.
"We've got to find a way to start winning again," Delaney said. "We started really well and we probably relied on a couple of guys too heavily winning games for us and we need to have team wins."
SCG COUNTRY CUP: Dubbo 3-168 (Michael Delaney 2-23) bt Weston Creek Molonglo 167 (Kevin Jacob 29, Corey Ryan 29) by seven wickets at North Dalton Park on Sunday.
