Ridgeway Cricket Club

TEAM NEWS

Today’s team sees a few familiar faces come into the side as we get set for another big game.

Keelan McNally, Raja Ali, Sameer Jha and club legend Steven Dudley all feature for Ridgeway today.

MATCHDAY

The lads host Chesterfield today at Ridgeway Sports and Social Club in another tough game as the promotion race continues to heat up.

With just four games remaining, every point matters and the boys will be looking to put in a big performance and keep the pressure on at the top.

A huge thank you to Chill Holistic Therapies for your support today. It is very much appreciated by everyone at the club.

Whatever you’re up to this weekend, we hope you have a SMASHING one!

UP NEXT

With the season rapidly approaching its conclusion, the lads welcome Chesterfield to the Ridgeway Sports and Social Club this Saturday as we look to take another huge step towards promotion.

Just four games remain for the boys from S12:

This Saturday - Chesterfield - Home

Saturday August 29th Swanwick Hall - Away

Saturday September 5th Eckington - Home

Saturday September 12th Matlock & Cromford Meadows - Home

Four games. One objective. WIN. EVERY. GAME.

A huge thanks to Chill Holistic Therapies for sponsoring the match this weekend, your support is appreciated by everyone at the club.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

After the thrilling victory over Belper Amateurs on Saturday, it took a real team effort to get us over the line. It was a fantastic game of cricket from both teams that could only be described as a classic.

There were some fantastic individual performances. Peter Holmes bowled superbly and kept the runs down during his spell, Will Cooper chipped in with some important runs, while James Bushell’s four wickets turned the game on its head and gave us a great chance of sealing the win.

But it was a phenomenal innings down the order that really caught the eye.

This week’s Player of the Match is Martyn Foulds!

Martyn looked in exquisite touch, combining superb timing, great placement and explosive power as he smashed 55, his maiden half-century for the club.

A brilliant innings that only got better the longer he was at the crease, taking the game to Belper Amateurs when we needed it most.

A fantastic contribution in a memorable victory for Ridgeway.

Congratulations, Mart!

MATCH RESULT

Quite simply, an absolute thriller at the weekend as Ridgeway came out on top against Belper Amateurs in a sheer classic, winning by just 2 runs in a game that went right down to the very last ball.

Belper Amateurs won the toss and stuck us in. Openers Gavin Stevens (23) and Jake Hill (18) navigated some challenging early bowling, with plenty of short stuff whizzing past the ears on more than one occasion.

James Bushell (22) and Will Cooper (45) then came to the crease and took the game to the opposition in their usual fashion, looking to build a challenging total. But a couple of wickets put us firmly on the back foot and for a while, the innings looked like it was slipping away.

Then came Martyn Foulds.

The introduction of Martyn completely changed the tempo of our innings as he went into crazy mode, scoring at a phenomenal rate and dragging us right back into the game with some absolutely blazing shots all around the ground. He was eventually out for 55 in a brilliant effort.

It was Martyn’s maiden half-century for Ridgeway and what a time to produce it!

We eventually finished on 219/7 from our 40 overs. Given the position we had been in, we were probably happy with that but we knew Belper Amateurs had plenty of firepower in their batting line-up and we’d have to be right on it.

And what followed was an absolute classic.

The pendulum swung from one side to the other throughout the chase. Belper Amateurs were never interested in settling for a draw and went after the target at full throttle, looking for all the points.

Wickets were shared between Captain Ash Roberts and Jake Hill as we put ourselves into a commanding position, while Peter Holmes bowled another miserly spell to put the brakes on the chase as he got an important wicket aswell.

Just when we thought Belper had far too much to do, Josh Pickering came to the crease and smashed a quickfire 34, sending the ball to all parts and giving the lads plenty to sweat about!

Then James Bushell was thrown the ball and he truly delivered.

Stump-to-stump bowling, all the tricks in the book and an absolutely outstanding spell saw James completely turn the game on its head, finishing with a brilliant 4/38.

But Belper had one more twist.

Opener Dylan Garnett produced a superb 113, almost single-handedly dragging the home side over the line. Keeping the strike and looking to finish it himself, before a brilliant catch in the deep from Gavin Stevens finally saw the back of him. An outstanding innings from a very good player indeed.

With 10 needed from the final over, the game was anyone’s.

But we held our nerve.

A couple of run outs and a wicket from Will Cooper with the very last ball of the match finally sealed an unbelievable victory for Ridgeway on the road.

BELPER AMATEURS 217
RIDGEWAY 219/7

RIDGEWAY WIN BY 2 RUNS!

A nail-biting finish to an unbelievable game of cricket as both teams pushed relentlessly for victory in an all-time classic.

An outstanding win for the boys from S12. Results like that show just how far we’ve come as a team. In previous years, we’d have been on the wrong end of nerve-wracking games like that but every single player did their bit and we somehow got over the line.

…and breathe!

We certainly needed a beer or two after that one.

Points - Belper Amateurs 3 Ridgeway 27

A huge thanks to TECHNI-FORM EDM LIMITED for your sponsorship of the match at the weekend. Your support is very much appreciated!

TEAM NEWS

Here's the XI that travel to Belper Amateurs this afternoon.

MATCHDAY

We make our way deep into Derbyshire this afternoon as we take on Belper Amateurs.

Another tough game awaits the lads as we look to put in a strong performance and come away with victory to keep the pressure on in the promotion chase.

A huge thank you to TECHNI-FORM EDM LIMITED for sponsoring today’s match. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.