Linde ‘Signs off’ with win
The return to home soil proved the much needed tonic the Rams needed as they comprehensively beat a strong Norden outfit.
Batting first after winning the toss, Norden made a steady if unspectacular start against some tight bowling from Jack Wynn and Dan Pyke. It took a piece of luck to break the opening stand when Wynn got his hand to a straight drive from Humphreys and deflected the ball onto the wicket catching Bhojani out of his ground.
No further success came Rammy’s way for a while even with a double bowling change. However good fielding helped to restrict the scoring but despite this Norden seemed on the way to a decent score. At 58 the breakthrough came when John Fielding bowled Howard Fitton. One run later; Fielding took the wicket of Humphreys caught in the deep by professional Linde. This put Norden on the back foot and when Fielding removed the opposition’s Professional: Sandham and the dangerous Tolley in quick succession, the Rams were well in control. Despite the odd show of defiance by the latter order batsmen Norden were eventually dismissed for a total of 149 in the final over of the innings. This was a good display of bowling and fielding by the Acre Bottom boys, something which has been lacking in recent weeks.
Despite this highly achievable target, nerves were still prevalent among our supporters as the Rams record when chasing totals is not the best. These nerves were really jangling when we lost two early wickets with only 7 runs on the board. Professional George Linde joined Alex Olpin at the wicket for what was his last innings for the club prior to joining the South Africa ‘A’ squad on tour. George would probably be the first to admit that things have not gone as well as he had hoped on the field during his stay but he showed us what he is capable of with a brilliant knock of 74 which included 9 – 4’s and 2 big 6’s – one of which ended with the ball finishing stuck behind the pavilion clock. The partnership between Linde and Olpin put on 98 runs and credit must go to Olpin for the way he gave the strike to George. When Alex fell 10 runs after George he had made 26 from 77 balls, his innings proved vital in our cause. Any hopes Norden had of achieving success were soon removed by a partnership by Rehan Udwadia and skipper Tom Parton who both looked in excellent form as they took us to victory with plenty of overs remaining.
This was a vital win for the Rams after recent performances and will hopefully give us the confidence to achieve more success in the coming weeks.
Mick Everett
1st Team Manager