RHC LIONS

A Kick in the Clax

Jun 6 – Bangolm – So it was with nine bodies that the intrepid 3s arrived for their home match with Clackmannan County 2. Not the best way to go into a match between first and second. Introductions all round as a couple of the under 15’s joined up with Sadlers senior and junior jnr, to round out ‘The Fellowship’. Fraggle, standing in for the holiday-ing Mooro, took the role of Frodo.

We were invited to bat by Clax, visions of an early return home no doubt swimming into focus. JK and Jones had first use of the grass wicket, and in a sign of things to come, JK wore the first ball on the grill of his helmet. The odd ball popping up was to be a recurring theme. It was steady progress into the 20’s before Jones was run out, well short of his ground. This brought Fraggle to the crease, and made a solid start. Neil Ramsay changed ends and was rewarded when he yorked JK. Kev coming to join Fraggle in a solid partnership, ticking the score over, punishing the short ball and frustrating the bowlers. Fraggle was finally bowled for 29. Corkie making his debut, batted with no fear. When he hit it, he hit it hard but holed our to Ally Ramsay for 12. Wardie’s debut knock didn’t last long, and that brought in Ally Sadler. He helped push the score up towards 140. Kev finally dismissed for 44 brought Chappers in. He saw off the only ball he would face. Ally went for one shot too many and was caught for 12. Junior coach extraordinaire, Steve Sadler, now headed for the crease. Playing his first match since marriage some 20+ years ago, he remembered his advice to the juniors of “get in line”, but forgot the “use the bat”. Plumb, lbw, first ball. So the nine of RHC all out for 143. A great effort, and much more than we’d been expecting.

Tea was the usual feast, after which, Clax set about chasing down the target. The combination of short boundaries and gaps in the field through short numbers was to prove to big a hurdle to overcome. There was no lack of fight however, a regular fall of wickets showing we didn’t just roll over. Kev got himself involved in two run outs, took a stunning catch on the boundary to help Wardie to his first senior wicket, and then out did taking a caught and bowled off a shot that has to have been the highest hit ball I’ve ever seen. A couple of difficult chances went down, but they were unlikely to have had any effect on the eventual 4 wicket victory for Clax. The seven points for defeat enough to keep us in second place, just 2% behind Clax as we head for a revenge meeting with Dunbar.

Special mention for 12 year old Ally Sadler, who’s 7 balls where about the most accurate and on the money of the day, and for his chat. He has all the chat in the book, and is not afraid to use it. He never stopped driving the team on from ball one, to the very end. Keep it up young man!