Match Report: Womens XI
Edgworth vs Burnley
The Women's team suffered a loss during a Thursday night trip to Bolton to play Edgworth. Though the result didn’t go the girls way, it was a much better showing against an Edgworth team that inflicted a heavy defeat in the reverse fixture a few weeks earlier.
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat, a decision which the opening pair backed up well from the start. Edgworth reached 98 from 8.3 overs before losing their first wicket, Laura Silva, who had scored 74 of those runs herself from only 33 balls. Scoring was slower after that wicket, though not by much, as the platform had been set to enable the batters to keep attacking. 3 more wickets followed when the scores were 116, 144 and finally at 171, to see Edgworth eventually reach a total of 188-4 after their 20 overs.
Becca Wilkins took 2-27 off 3 overs, whilst Sophie Latham and Lexie Holding took one wicket a piece from their overs. 3 of the girls went at 10+ runs per over, with extras reaching 29 in a tough outing for the bowlers against an attacking line-up.
The response didn’t get off to a great start for Burnley, as they lost Emily Brunt in the second over, but a strong partnership followed, with Jess Gizon and Nimra Shafqat in the middle, scoring 79 from 9.5 overs, until Nimra was out just short of her 50, falling for a quick 49 from only 35 balls. Despite the good partnership, Burnley were still short of runs, and lost wickets in trying to reach the total, with the next two batters falling for single figures.
The fading light meant that the innings was reduced to 16 overs, with the girls 30 runs shy of where they needed to be at that stage of the game. Finishing at 114-4. Jess Gizon reached 50 from the penultimate ball of the game to follow up her half century a week earlier, including the only 6 of the Burnley innings. Despite a good showing with the bat it simply wasn’t enough to chase down the huge target that had been set.
Match Report: Womens XI
Ramsbottom vs Burnley.
The Women’s team played back to back games this week, with another T20 on the Friday night at Rammy, they came up short again however in what was another high scoring game, despite a great night for Nimra Shafqat.
Burnley won the toss and chose to field first. An early dismissal from Emily Brunt in the 4th over saw Ramsbottom reach 22-1, before a 78 run partnership from 6.1 overs saw them reach 100 with only one wicket down. Becca Wilkins popped up with a wicket to dismiss the opener and open up the game slightly, she then took another wicket in her next over which left Ramsbottom 114-3 after 12.3 overs to see the game turning towards the visitors. Another big partnership however saw Rammy gain back control, 59 runs in 4.5 overs pushed the score up to 173 from 17.2 overs. Thankfully Emily took another wicket, the high scoring Evie Hall who finished 74 from 34, to slow down the assault.
Ramsbottom finished their innings 192-4, with mixed results from the Burnley bowling unit. Emily Brunt took 2-29 from 4 overs, whilst Becca Wilkins had 2-14 from her 2 overs. The best figures however came from Nimra, despite not taking a wicket she only went for 14 runs from her 4 overs, doing her best to stifle the Ramsbottom line-up.
The Burnley batting reply suffered an early loss, as Jess Gizon was out in the first over, not able to manage a hat trick of half centuries. Nimra joined Emily in the middle and the pair batted well together, putting on 64 from 10.1 overs, before Emily was out for the first of three caught and bowled dismissals in the innings. Iqra joined her sister, but was unable to match her scoring rate, despite hitting a 6 she was out cheaply, as was Lexie for the next wicket, though she helped put up a partnership of 30 with Nimra, with Lexie and Iqra both also out caught and bowled.
Burnley eventually finished 129-4 after their full 20 overs, leaving them 63 short. It was a terrific batting display however from Nimra, who scored 89 of the 126 runs that came off the bat for Burnley, from only 63 balls, an innings which included 12 fours and 2 sixes. She was on strike for the last over, needing 12 to reach 100, but 3 dot balls followed by only a single meant she wasn’t quite able to reach the milestone this time. It was a great all round showing from her though, and a good effort from the Women’s team who only had 9 players for this game.
Match Report: Third XI
Burnley vs Littleborough.
A heavy defeat at Haffner’s Turf Moor saw Burnley suffer a defeat for the first time after winning five in a row. All but ending the slim hopes they had at catching Haslingden for the top of the league. It was a tough outing for a team that lost several key players this weekend.
The visitors won the toss and chose to bat first, and they started well, the openers putting on 64 before Simon Edmonson made the breakthrough at the end of the 14th over, Simon followed that with dismissing the other opener, who had made 56 from 56, a few overs later, both wickets top edges to Harry Tomlinson at slip. A rare maiden from Ben the Bar saw LIttleborough reach 95-2 when drinks came out at the 20 over mark. The next 10 overs were kept tight by Burnley, 53 runs for 3 wickets kept both teams in the mix, with Harry, Simon and Ben taking a wicket each in this period, including a catch from Lewis Gott, who was playing his first game in 3 years for Burnley.
The final 10 overs however saw Littleborough accelerate and add 86 to their total, thanks to Bailey Bourke who finished 79 from 55. Burnley managed 2 runouts, as well as a returning Aayaan Naveed claiming his only wicket of the game, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the visitors who managed to reach 234-8 from their 40 overs. The bowling unit suffered as the opposition attacked, the stand out figures belonging to Simon Edmonson, who claimed 3-43 from 8 overs, including a run out. Harry Tomlinson had bowled 5 overs for 21 with one wicket and one maiden, as well as a direct hit himself, before going for 15 in his last over, to ruin his figures. Ben the Bar was the most economical, finishing 8-1-39-1.
The Burnley chase was over before it ever really began. Simon Edmonson out at the end of the first over, which was shortly followed by 5 wickets falling in 13 balls, for only 3 runs. Burnley crumbled to 14-6 from only 4.4 overs. It wasn’t until the 8th over, with Burnley 17-7 when they scored their first boundary thanks to Lewis Gott. Abel Litto showed good courage and resiliency, managing to last 27 balls, including being hit on the arm, before he was the last man out. The hosts were dismissed for 36 to see Littleborough win by 198 runs.
No Burnley batter made more than 6, with extras the highest scorer, adding 12 to the total. 4 batters were dismissed without scoring at all, with 6 being bowled. It was Robert Goodall, who has 15 first team wickets this year in 83 overs, the third highest wickets and balls bowled for LIttleborough firsts this year, that did the damage for the visitors. His figures read 7-5-2-6 at the end of the game.
3 matches remain for Burnley now to try and cement a second place finish.
Match Report: Second XI
Burnley vs Ramsbottom
The second team suffered a sixth defeat in a row following a loss at Haffner’s Turf Moor. A depleted team saw three players make their returns to the field as relegation remains a looming threat for the Burnley side.
Captain Ben won the toss and inserted the opposition to bat first, and Burnley were able to make a good start with the ball. Fresh from his long break, Aayaan Naveed made the breakthrough to remove the Rammy opener for a duck in the third over, while Ramsbottom had to wait until the sixth over for their first boundary. After the first wicket fell for only 3, Ramsbottom added 70 for the second wicket, a stand broken via a combination of the Edmonson brothers. Simon doing the bowling and Phil doing the catching to send the batsmen back to the pavilion, carried by a chorus of West Ham fans who were starting to find their voice whilst watching the Cricket before their game later in the afternoon. The score was 75-2 at this stage after 16 overs.
Runs came quickly for the batting side, but wickets came at regular intervals too as chances were presented to be taken. Johnny O’Brien, playing in his first game in just over 4 years, took the third wicket, dismissing the high scoring opener for 56, and should have had more had it not been for some dropped catches that should have been snatched. Ben the Bar took the next three wickets through the middle order, including a good catch diving forward at Cow corner by Dean Metcalf, playing for the first time in over 5 years himself. This left Rammy 167-6 at the start of the 30th over.
The last 4 wickets fell in a cluster towards the end of the Ramsbottom innings. Started with a runout and sharp work by stand-in wicket-keeper Harry Tomlinson, followed up with Dean then taking his own wicket, with Harry showing good glove work to take the catch. Tight bowling saw Dean produce a wicket maiden, followed up with a maiden from Simon Edmonson, Aayaan then produced another wicket maiden in the first over of his second spell, and took the final wicket in the second over of his spell to see Rammy lose their last 3 wickets for only 5 runs, Paul Mortimer taking a catch at slip to end the innings, in his first appearance in 7 years for Burnley. Ramsbottom all out inside 39 overs for 199. Aayaan finished with the best figures of 7.2-4-14-3. Ben took 3-67 from 12, and Dean had 5-1-18-1. With Simon and Johnny also taking a wicket each.
The chase for Burnley never really got going. The Edmonson brothers opened, and managed to reach 17 after 16 balls before losing Simon, the score then stretched slightly to 29 in the next 7 balls, before Josh Holding was then next out. From then on, Burnley collapsed, losing 8 wickets for 17 runs, including the last 5 wickets for only 6 runs. Phil and Harry were the only players to reach double figures, with 19 and 10 respectively. But the Burnley innings saw 5 ducks, in a total that only reached 47 before they were bowled out after just 15 overs.
Rammy won by 153 runs, as Burnley edge closer to the relegation zone. With only 4 games to go now, it looks as if it is going to be a tight race to see which teams can avoid the drop down to division 2 this year.
Match Report: First XI
Ramsbottom vs Burnley
Burnley fall to defeat at Ramsbottom after winning three in a row, unable to stretch or maintain their advantage at the top of the league, with those below them able to catch up this weekend. Ramsbottom following their record breaking Worsley Cup victory last weekend with a dominant display over Burnley.
Burnley won the toss and got off to a decent start. Reaching 33 before losing Qasim Shah(14), and then 40 when Liam Bedford(20) was out at the start of the 14th over. A stand of 52 from 84 deliveries between Callum Clarke and Ocki Erasmus helped to push the score up and offer a chance to build on the base they were setting, Callum scoring more freely whilst Ocki looked to offer some support and deny Rammy the chance to make more inroads.
The hosts took command of the game though once Ocki was dismissed for 13. In a span of 31 deliveries, Burnley lost 5 wickets for 12 runs, taking the score from 92-2 to 104-7, the middle order being taken apart. Bharat Tripathi offered some resistance, sticking in with Callum whilst he got to his 50 from 85 balls, but Bharat was out after 26 balls for 7, leaving Burnley in deeper trouble at 119-8 with more than 11 overs still left to bat.
Adam Hodge joined Callum in the middle, and helped to add 33 more runs for the ninth wicket. Callum just needed batting partners to hang around with him as long as possible. The pair managed to reach 152, but the last two wickets fell within 4 balls to bring an abrupt end to the Burnley innings, Callum the last man out for a season high 71 from 103 balls, scoring over half of the runs that came off the bat for Burnley. 5.2 overs left in the innings when they were dismissed.
The second innings started well for Burnley as they tried to restrict Ramsbottom from chasing down their set target. The familiar opening pair of Bharat and Adam got to work and began well. Bharat his usual self with incredibly tight and efficient bowling, his opening spell of 9 overs going for only 17 runs with 2 maidens, out of the 54 deliveries he bowled, 42 of them were dots. It was Adam who was the beneficiary at the other end, taking his first wicket with his eighth ball to see the back of JJ fielding inside 4 overs. He then struck the big wicket of dismissing the Rammy pro in his fifth over for only 8 runs. Ramsbottom held to 21-2 after the first 10 overs.
That was however the last time Burnley were able to make any dent into the Rammy batting lineup, as the hosts slowly took more and more control of the game for the rest of the innings. A partnership of 138 between Ben Pearson and Tom Parton led the opposition up to their target, accelerating to score 68 from the last 10 overs as Ocki tried to switch around his bowlers and find some way to make a breakthrough. Burnley just weren’t able to stop Ramsbottom from reaching the target, doing so with just under 10 overs left and 8 wickets still to play with.
Burnley still stay top of the league, but the points gap is cut down to 14 points above Walsden, with Ramsbottom pulling closer after today's result, seeing them move to 15 behind Burnley with 4 games left to play.