Northleach captain
Dickie Hemming won the toss and elected to field
first on a damp Rissington wicket, with the Rams
looking to extend their winning sequence. A fine
opening spell from Flammy Wellman was backed up by
Rich Blundell at the other end as the Rissi batsmen
struggled to score runs, and reached just 50 at the
halfway stage. Jordan Blackmore (2 for 33) burst
onto the scene with some great swing bowling and
chances began to come, with youngster Charlie
Garratt dropped twice before being run out going for
a suicide single. Blackmore picked up 2 wickets as
the home side reached 94 for 3 after 30 overs when
the rain came - the game was delyed for 1/2 an hour,
and allowed the home batsmen time to regather
themselves for the final 10 overs. The virtue of
keeping wickets in hand came to fruition as Snowy
Surch (70no), in particular, struck some massive
blows as he took the home total to the 200 mark,
with over 100 runs being scored off the final 10
overs.
Due to the rain
interruption Northleach were set a target of 151 to
win the game from just 30 overs, and the pairing of
Blackmore and Glen Crompton went for it from the
start, with 20 runs coming from the first 2 overs.
Crompton (24) displayed some strong hitting before
"holing out", bringing Marko Larner to the crease.
His brisk 33 ensured that the Northleach rate was
always around the 7/over mark, and it took a great
diving catch in the deep to remove the young
batsman. As the light began to fade the Rams'
batters kept their patience and kept the scoreboard
moving, with Sammy Scarrot the pick of the home
bowlers with a fine 2 for 28. In order to beat the
forthcoming rain Blackmore (65no) led the batting
effort which saw Northleach home by 6 wickets in
just 25 overs.
The Green & Golds
achieved the "double" over their close rivals for
the first time with this good win, and now look
forward to a home match against Windrush at The
Arena next Saturday.
