RAMSBOTTOM showed a lot of resilience to come back and beat local rivals Bacup after suffering a devastating defeat against Todmorden on Saturday.

For some reason the Acre Bottom boys have reserved probably their two worst performances of the season against a side they should have been long odds-on to beat.

Todmorden won the toss and asked Ramsbottom to bat first on a damp wicket in a game reduced to 37 overs but no-one could have envisaged the way the Rammy batters struggled to get runs.

Try as they might they seemed unable to pierce the umbrella field set by the Todmorden captain and after 20 overs only 34 runs were on the board with the home professional Gyan Pandey conceding only five runs off his 10 overs.

Alex Bell and Mark Dentith tried to put matters right before both falling to the Indian spinner but it was left to the in-form Lee Daggett and last man Mick Haslam to take the score to an unimpressive 97 at the end of the innings.

An early breakthrough was essential but for once the normally reliable Kartik did not produce the goods and the home side got off to a flyer courtesy of Hassan Abbas.

When he fell to the Indian spinner his fellow opener Simon Newbitt took on the mantle of aggressor and 50 was up by the end of the 13th over.

Rammy then dug in and started to prise out some wickets but Todmorden had the luxury of bags of overs to play with and scored the winning runs in the 33rd over leaving the Rams to bitterly regret not putting up a higher target.

The following day saw the arrival of Bacup and a carnival atmosphere existed at Acre Bottom as the club celebrated the centenary of it's magnificent pavilion.

Brass Bands played and a large crowd saw Bacup make an excellent start on a difficult track with both Peter Thompson and professional Chris Simpson looking in determined mood.

The score had advanced to 64 off 23 overs when Thompson attempted to loft Chris Eardley over mid-off.

The shot was well executed and would have cleared most of the Rammy fielders but Alex Bell somehow extended all of his 6' 4" backwards to hold on to a stunning catch.

This was the inspiration the home side needed and with Kartik at his miserly best being complimented by some excellent swing bowling from Eardley runs started to dry up.

Efforts to up the tempo resulted in risks being taken and the ball going airborne. This proved fatal as the Acre Bottom boys had one of those days when everything stuck with Robert Read twice and Mark Dentith both taking top quality catches as the visitors stumbled to 105 all out with the Indian professional and young amateur sharing the wickets.

Ramsbottom knew that chasing such a score was not going to be easy with Ormerod and Simpson both having over 50 wickets apiece this season and they had an early setback when Kartik was dismissed to a brute of a delivery.

Keith Webb and Alex Bell then dug in and took everything the bowlers could throw at them in a crucial 44 run partnership before Bell went for an excellent 23.

Never-say-die Bacup kept at it and wickets started to fall and the Rams fell behind the required run rate. At 77 for 5 and the dark clouds rolling ominously in it looked like the advantage was slippingtowards Bacup but once again Lee Daggett proved a hero for the Rams.

In company with Mark Dentith he pushed the ball around picking up ones and twos as slowly the scoring rates got closer.

Light rain had started to fall and with the light very poor tension was fever pitch. The 37th over arrived and with Ramsbottom still marginally behind the run rate it was obvious that Bacup could sense a reprieve via the weather.

Something special was needed and arrived off the third ball as Dentith launched into it. With fielders on the edge supporters held their breath but the shot was well placed and just had enough on it to carry it for a maximum to the longest boundary.

This seemed to knock the stuffing out of the visitors and even the rain relented to allow the two Rammy batsmen to take the home side through to an excellent maximum points victory.