Ripped apart!

Pyestock CC turned in easily their worst performance of the season this week as they were comprehensively beaten by Ripley CC.

Hampered by missing Neil Butler, Jon Ford as well as Jay and Tom Threlfall, 10 man Pyestock slumped to an incredible 26 for 7 as the hosts ran riot in the early stages.

The visitors who had performed well at Shepperton last week, did not mind batting first, but the impressive opening duo of Kash Hussain (4-1-5-3) and A.Jamil (4-3-1-2) had a field day and ripped through Pyestock’s top order far too easily as Glenn Taylor (0), Dan Heath (2), Chris McGovern (3), Pete Harris (1) and young debutant Ben Armes (0) all failed to cope with the potency of the bowling.

A double change failed to turn the fortunes as 12 for 5 soon became 26 for 7 as Field claimed the wickets of Jack Bromley who was caught for 4 and Colin Butler who edged faintly for 1 to wicket keeper Toby Zapp.

The visitors were indeed thankful for the 9 extras that had so far contributed more to their cause than any player, but this thankfully changed as Chris Heath and Ben Bromley anchored down and sensibly tried to bat their side out of trouble. The task was however nearly impossible, even with Ripley now rotating their bowling options  Bromley seemed to most settled and took boundaries from Thomas, Field and captain Baddock, but it was the skippers loopy slow left arm that accounted for Bromley in the end as he was caught mistiming a pull at mid-wicket. A well earned 22 from the number 8 thankfully received by Pyestock who by now had mustered 51 in total. Another change in bowling saw Hyde clean up Chris Heath for a patient 5, seemingly bringing an end to Pyestock innings, however the generosity of the Ripley captain allowed Pyestock’s last man to bat on alone for the tenth wicket, albeit with 2 runners, one to act as a non-facing number 11, and the other due to the general unfitness of the side.

Worryingly, this also proved to be when Pyestock looked most comfortable with the bowling as 22 runs were added in just 32 deliveries before a good catch by Christian at mid on finally put Pyestock out if their misery with just 74 runs in the board.

After yet another fabulous tea (definitely a consistent theme during 2017), Pyestock looked to find a magic formula to somehow drag themselves back into the match, however the opening bowling from skipper Chris Heath, who was clearly still feeling the effects of the previous days stag do, left a lot to be desired as the first 2 balls were deservedly hammered into the leg side for 6 runs by Toby Zapp. These were to be the only runs however for the Ripley wicket keeper as Heath finally shook off the hangover and produced a fine delivery to bowl the youngster. A glimmer of hope at 12 for 1?

At the other end Hyde was lucky to escape early on as a Heath delivery rolled agonisingly past the stumps, but otherwise looked fairly composed against the bowling of the Pyestock captain and Jack Bromley at the other end.

Wickets were not coming so a change of bowling after 6 overs saw Ben Armes introduced and some lively away swing bowling almost accounted for Jamil but the catch at slip went down, to sum up the visitors day completely.

From this point Ripley comfortably moved towards victory, bringing up the winning runs in the 15th over with a neat dab through slips from Hyde who finished unbeaten on 36, proving that the pitch was in no way a minefield. Pyestock had simply not shown up and were thoroughly outplayed by a Ripley side who looked talented but sadly untested against a Pyestock side lacking in almost every department.

Hopefully this result will remain a one-off and we will get the chance to sample the delights of Ripley CC and their great sportsmanship and hospitality again in the future.