Castled at Clitheroe then no need to moan against Colne
Ramsbottom 1st Team v Clitheroe 1st team – T20 (A) 2 July 2021
RCC 130 for 5 (20 overs) CCC 131 for 4 (17.1 overs)
Scorecard here
Friday brought an end to our T20 ambitions with defeat against an experienced Clitheroe outfit. Our opening partnership of Brad and Jacob has been instrumental in getting us off to great starts in this year’s competition, so losing both in the first 5 overs was a big setback. Brad’s decision was a sickener as he had just smashed Sharp for a 4 and 6 in consecutive deliveries before being fired. The ironic thing was that the appeal for being caught behind was the quietest made by the Clitheroe players who had previously been screaming out for balls that had struck the middle of the bat. This seemed to startle us and although our batters did their best against some tight bowling it took a captain’s innings of 44 from Grimmy to set our final total of 130, possibly 20 or 30 short of a challenging target.
Early wickets were essential and although we did get the dangerous Lord, well caught in the deep, the home pro Amjad and wicket keeper O’Connor were able to take the score forward at a brisk rate, the latter somehow surviving what clearly looked a legitimate stumping with the umpire at least 40 yards away square of the wicket.
Although these things galled they probably did not affect the ultimate result as in general we did not field or bowl as well as the opposition. The highlight was an incredible catch taken by Grimmy to dismiss Amjad who had earlier survived a far easier chance.
Amateur Man of the Match was Kieren Grimshaw.
Ramsbottom 1st Team v Colne 1st Team (H) 3 July 2021
RCC 259 for 6 (42 overs) CCC 65 all out (27.4 overs)
Scorecard here
With the rain pouring down on Saturday morning and the forecast looking bleak I made Victor Meldrew seem a pleasant person. This was a massive game for us in our current position and a no result would have been hard to take. However the weather gods relented and we were able to start at 1pm in a reduced overs game.
After winning the toss Colne quite naturally put us into bat in due of predicted disruptions (thunder storms were forecast for 3 pm) so it was essential we made a quick start. This we did with Jonny Dack and Alex Olpin putting on 51 thanks to some good stroke play and fine running before JD was unluckily run out. Alex was then joined by Grimmy and the pair really put the accelerator down in a super partnership before both fell within a run of each other having made excellent half centuries, Alex (63) and Grammy (53). Our remaining batsmen continued to look for quick runs and although we lost our pro Daryn (8) and Brad (9) in the process Clarkey and Harry Caton (22) then debutant Jack Thomond (10 not out) put the Colne bowling to the sword to allow us to reach the formidable score of 259 off our allotted overs. Jacob’s 57 not out off 35 balls earned him his “baggy green” cap.
With the weather situation our initial target was to get 20 overs in to get a result and then hopefully bowl our opposition out to gain maximum points. With this in mind Dan Pyke and the pro opened our attack. Both bowled really well and backed up but some decent fielding wickets started to fall quickly and by the time they had finished their spells the game was nearly over with Daryn taking 5 for 19 and Pykey 3 for 37. It was then left for young Codge (bowling sharply) to take the last two wickets to give us the maximum points we so badly needed.
Although Colne are having a tough time of things and it was a game we were confidently expecting to win there were a lot of positives to be taken from this performance. Three amateur half centuries will have increased the confidence of our batsmen plus Daryn appeared to have his bowling back on track following his nasty finger injury. Pykey got in a long bowl and but for giving a few away in his last over would have returned excellent figures and young Codge will have been buoyed by his 2 wickets. We have a young side but a hell of a lot of potential so lets hope we can continue on the winning trail and move ourselves up the league
Whilst there were several contenders for Amateur Man of the Match I have given it to Alex Olpin.
