Leamington's seasonal struggle extended to another hefty defeat when Birmingham champions Walsall handed out the latest Arlington Avenue disappointment on Saturday.
After seeing their opening partnership put on 55 runs in even time home confidence had risen to heady heights.
Only 75 minutes later the side had crashed to a demoralising 95 all out to leave Walsall with the softest of Premier Division victory t
asks which they achieved for the loss of three wickets.
It was an amazing turnaround after Alex Phillips and Chris Cheslin had set out in such positive fashion.
Phillips, a prolific scorer for the 2nd XI and worthy of the step up, underlined his potential with some lovely shots scattered throughout his 33.
Together with Cheslin laid the foundation to what should have been a challenging score.
But the arrival of Andy Gray soon had Walsall in the driving seat, the expert spinner removing Phillips with his first delivery before going on to record a match-turning 10.4-6-17-5 return.
Only Lee Hopkins joined the first pair in registering double figures as wickets tumbled with depressing frequency and Walsall, left with more than 70 overs to hit their target, did so with some ease despite Luke Radford chipping in with wickets off successive deliveries. The game, including tea, was over inside five hours.
It is Steve Montgomery's proud boast that during a long and varied sporting career he has never tasted relegation.
Sadly in this, his final season, the veteran Leamington 2nd XI skipper looks bound for the drop from the Premier 2nd XI table following another eclipse, this time at Walsall.
Montgomery did his best to save the day, injecting a prohibitive 10-5-13-1 return, but Walsall made it home for the loss of three wickets after being required to better Leamington's 170 total (Jimbo Williams 44, Billy Hallett 37).
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