Match Report Ramsbottom 1st XI v Walsden 1st XI – 9 May 2021 by Michael Everett
RCC 133 all out (42.1 overs) & WCC 131 for 1 (25.2 overs and revised DL target)
Ramsbottom v Walsden in 2021 (lancashireleague.com)
On the day the real heroes were the spectators who had to brave conditions more akin to Greenland in November than England in May the Rams suffered an ignominious Worsley Cup defeat.
Let’s be honest Walsden are a tough, uncompromising but highly talented side who will be challenging for trophies on all fronts this season but we never even got them out of 2nd gear.
Batting first on a good track runs were at a premium for our openers and initially wides became our main source of income. At 28 Simon Hansen was caught and bowled by Harlow bringing Kieren Grimshaw to the wicket to join Harry Caton. Taking their time both batsmen dug in but gradually started to find their touch and took the score to 71 before Harry was bowled playing a rather injudicious shot after grafting so hard. Two balls later our pro, Daryn, was bowled and we knew we were up against it. At 84 Kieren got a bad decision (and an apology later from the umpire) which only exacerbated matters further. After this only Brad Fielding with a cameo innings of 30 and Jamie Pilling (14) offered any kind of resistance and we ended up 133 all out with extras being our top scorer. This was not good enough as the wicket was, as stated, a good one and the Walsden bowling although steady enough, was not anything special especially after their main strike bowler, Shackleton, only bowled 4 overs before leaving the field injured.
The fact that it only took 25 overs to chase their Duckworth Lewis target of 131 for the loss of one wicket showed what kind of total we needed to have posted to prove competitive. This was bad day for the Rams. Ever so often you get a performance like this but you have to pick yourself up and bounce back.
We cannot expect Daryn to win games for us every week and we have talented enough amateurs in the side who are very capable of turning in performances with both bat and ball. What we have not seen this season is an amateur batter scoring over 50 despite several having a good start or an amateur bowler taking more than 3 wickets. Let’s hope that next week brings about a change. Rammy is a great club with fantastic support and we will always get behind the team so its onwards an upwards lads.
Amateur Man of the Match was Brad Fielding with his 30 but he again should probably have scored a lot more.
Michael Everett
