Match Report Ramsbottom 1st XI v Enfield 1st XI – 18th June 2023
ECC 184 all out (48 overs) RCC 22 for none (4 overs)
Scorecard here
Big kick in the teeth from the weather at Enfield
Without a win in the league this season we all knew how important this game was for the Rams. With rain promised we won the all-important toss and inserted the opposition. So far so good. What happened in the first 4 overs was enough to send the Rammy faith apoplectic. Seventeen wides were given away and Enfield raced to 28 without loss. A change had to be made and our pro Bilal was quickly brought in the attack by Tom. He immediately hit line and length and soon it became apparent the Enfield batsmen were more concerned at keeping him out that scoring against him. This proved beneficial to the amateur bowlers and it was the Bird who took advantage claiming the first 4 wickets and unfortunately having the opposition pro Maduwantha dropped on 11.
After Bilal had bowled 8 overs Tom gambled and reintroduced Toby Ashworth into the attack, saving our professional for the last overs of their innings.
Up to this point Toby had not had the greatest of weekends and one wondered, with the opposition pair of Maduwantha and Jones enjoying a good partnership, was this was wise move. To his great credit something seemed to click with him and he got his line and length right causing problems for both batsmen before finally getting Jones well caught behind by Harry.
When the pro replaced Toby he was immediately bang on the spot and Denty became the benefactor as the Enfield batsmen took him on only succeeding in holing out to Brad Fielding and Jason Pyke twice. When Denty had finished his spell Toby again took over the reigns and with overs running out Maduwantha tried to ramp him and was cleaned bowled. It was then left to Bilal to claim the last wicket to finish with figures of 1 for 27 off 14 overs in Enfield’s total of 184 all out.
This was the first occasion we had bowled a team out and having what I consider our strongest batting order available us I was confident we could win our first league game of the season. Sadly the weather gods conspired against us and after reaching 22 without loss after 4 over the heavens opened. When the rain stopped the Enfield players showed no willingness to do any work on the ground although in fairness at the end of the day we could never have got the required 20 overs in
Man of the Match – Toby Ashworth for showing a bit of character after having a disastrous start to the game conceding 10 wides in his first 2 overs and ending up with figures of 2 for 32 off 8 overs.
Footnote – although our professional has only taken 3 wickets to date it is clear that due to his consistency the opposition are finding it difficult to score off him. We need our amateur bowlers to follow suit, cut down on the wide deliveries, develop a better line and length and the rewards will come.
For the first time in a while I feel a bit more optimistic of us remaining in the 1st division, an important priority for RCC.
