Match Report Ramsbottom 1st XI v Burnley CC 1st XI – 29th May 2022
RCC 139 for 9 (50 overs) BCC 142 for 4 (42.3 overs)
Scorecard here and recording of livestream here
After the Lord Mayor’s Show
Whereas we had been favourites to progress in the Worsley Cup on Saturday we faced a totally different proposition against current champions Burnley on Sunday.
Our situation was exacerbated by the fact that we were missing our skipper who was at his brother’s wedding leaving our back up bowling very weak.
Tom Parton took over the role as skipper for the day and having won the toss elected to bat first. It soon became clear that Tom was a stiff as a plank from his Herculean effort the previous day but he still seemed in good order with the bat until Lawson induced an edge of him and Tripathi took an excellent catch in the slips. Tom Parkinson soon followed leaving our pro Sen alongside Jonny Dack at the wicket. JD seemed a lot more comfortable and with Sen in good touch they pushed the score to 77 before Jonny fell to Lawson.
At 99 for 3, with Sen at the wicket and plenty of overs remaining we looked in a reasonable position to post a challenging score. We then suffered a horrendous middle order collapse adding only 2 more runs for the loss of 5 wickets.
A score of less of 100 looked on the cards but Jake Walker (making up in a small way for the terrible run out of Jack Thomond) and Josh Denty showed the middle order how to bat adding 30 runs before Jake was caught on the boundary off a ball he knew he should have put away for four. Josh and Toby Ashworth, drafted into the side at the 11th hour, added another 15 runs and importantly didn’t give the opposition any bonus points.
A total of 139 seemed inadequate against a strong Burnley batting line up so it was important to get an early breakthrough. The Rams and 99% of the crowd thought they had achieved it when off the second ball of the innings Sen took took a brilliant diving catch at slip off Jake Walker. The batsman Bedford immediately claimed a bump ball and amazingly the umpire agreed with him. The pace the ball carried to slip was clear evidence that it was not a bump ball. These types of things happen when teams are struggling.
Bedford and fellow opener Roberts took full advantage of their luck and without a big score to chase they could take their time and wait for the odd bad ball. Tom soon reverted to spin and although both Sen and Josh bowled a good line both batsmen seemed secure.
When a bowling change became necessary it was a great surprise that Tom threw the ball to Jack Thomond. Although Jack has had some success bowling in the seconds he is known to give away a few extras through being somewhat erratic. However he hit a good line and length from the word go and ended up taking all four wickets that fell, including having Burnley pro Erasmus caught at slip for a second ball duck.
Although this defeat did not come as unexpected what was really disappointing was the capitulation of the middle order. We were in a position to look for a final total of at least 170-180 yet in the end we had to thank our late order batsmen for getting us up to 139.
Although we are currently bottom nobody seems to be running away with the league this season as the results have shown. What has let us down is our inability to get a settled line up. If we could turn out the same side for a protracted period I am confident we could get out of our present position and progress up the league. We need players to be available so we can turn out two strong teams. What a pleasure it was to be in the clubhouse after the 1st and 2nd team victories over Clitheroe – we want more times like that.
Amateur Man of the Match – Jack Thomond for his bowling performance but I must mention Josh Dentith who showed us he can bat and he bowled again without any luck.
