All the Juniors in action as World Cup fever reached its peak!
Our U9s opened the week’s fixtures when they hosted local rivals Greenmount A and B. We’ve played Greenmount’s teams a few times this year already, so our team knew what to expect. In the first match Greenmount A piled on the runs in the pairs format to reach 266/3 off their 9 overs, with our young Rams replying valiantly with 226/4. We did better in the second match of the night against Greenmount B with Rammy winning by 32 runs with a final score of 247/3.
The U11s played against Heywood Wednesday evening and were involved in a last ball thriller (sound familiar?). Ramsbottom reached 251 in their 16 overs in the pairs format, where every wicket counts as 6 runs taken away. Louis Almond-Read on 30 not out and Harry Collinge on 13 were the stand-out batters. Heywood took to their batting nicely but Harry grabbed 2 wickets and brilliant bowling from Maxwell Price, Louis and Evie Bennett (1 wicket apiece) got us to a last ball thriller. Heywood held their nerve and took the victory.
Our U13s marched on with two more wins, away to Rishton in the 8-a-side and home to Littleborough on World Cup Final day. In the pairs format at Rishton, Ramsbottom batted first and piled on the runs to reach 289/6 of 16 overs. Max Myers scoring 16, Lewie Pearson 23 and Isaac Turner 20 not out. Rishton B responded with 227 net score after great bowling in particular from Josh Simpson with 3 overs 2 wickets for 10 runs. On a rare Sunday morning home game, we entertained Littleborough at Acre Bottom. Littleborough batted first and reached 99-6 off 20 overs, Pick of the bowling again Josh Simpson 2-0-7-1 and Toby Anderson 2-0-9-1. In Rammy’s response, we were in trouble at 16 for 3, but Jack Hinchliffe and Toby Anderson led the recovery with a 20-run stand, followed by a 24-run stand between Jack and Max Myers, which turned the game around. Some powerful hitting from Lewie Pearson (6 into the football ground), Josh Simpson and Joe Lynchey with boundaries to clinch the win with 3 overs to spare. Player of the Match, Max Myers with 26 runs, proving when we need our middle order to come good, they’re up to the task.
The U15s “Rammyfield” were back in action at Acre Bottom to local rivals Haslingden. Our bowlers applied the pressure and Haslingden were restricted to 70 all out from 19.4 overs. Oliver Croft bowled well for his 3.4-0-11-2 but perfect bowling from Ed Taylor 4 overs, 4 maidens, 6 wickets for 0 runs! The batters didn’t waste much time knocking off the runs finishing on 71-3 off 11.1 overs with Toby Ashworth on 23 not out.
Phil Croft
Chair of Junior Foundation