RAMSBOTTOM gave near neighbours Rawtenstall an object lesson in how to bat on a good wicket at Acre Bottom on Saturday.

When the visitors won the toss and elected to bat, a large sundrenched crowd settled down anticipating another run feast from a side that had smashed a record-breaking 317 the previous week.

Early indications looked promising as the league's leading amateur batsman and former Somerset player Andrew Payne started striking the ball sweetly.

However, when he had reached just 13 he smashed a rocket shot straight back at Mick Haslam and the Ramsbottom bowler somehow managed to cling onto it.

This brought the Rawtenstall professional Mike Smith to the wicket but the aggressive South Australian found run scoring difficult, particularly against the wily Mark Price who once again opened the attack with his spinners.

This caused the batsmen to try and attack Haslam but this proved their downfall as he ripped through the early order Rawtenstall amateurs clean bowling Cook-Martin, Wood and Damian Hanson.

When Price clean bowled the frustrated Smith and Haslam gained a well deserved collection by having the Rawtenstall skipper Peter Hanson brilliantly caught at gulley, it looked like the game would be all over before 4pm but to their credit the opposition tailenders dug in and took the score past the century mark to save some pride.

Although Mick Haslam took most of the plaudits for his bowling, special mention must be made to veteran Mark Price who only conceded 31 runs off 23 miserly overs.

When the Rams took to the wicket professional Arnberger and Spencer Woods did the business with the paid man hitting 10 fours in his unbeaten 64 and receiving excellent support from his amateur partner as Ramsbottom won the game with more than 25 overs remaining.

RAMSBOTTOM v RAWTENSTALL

RAWTENSTALL

A. Payne c & b Haslam...13

C. Cook-Martin b Haslam...13

M. Smith b Price...26

R. Wood b Haslam...2

D. Hanson b Haslam...4

P. Hanson c Arnberger b Haslam...1

J. Carter st Hevingham b Arnberger...17

P. Collis c & b Arnberger...11

A. Ali run out...1

J. Dawson b Price...0

K. Roscoe not out...7

Extras...11

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Total 106

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M. Haslam 15-1-52-5; M. Price 23-8-31-2; J. Arnberger 8.1-2-21-2.

RAMSBOTTOM

J. Arnberger not out...64

S. Woods not out...38

Extras...5

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Total (for 0) 107

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K. Roscoe 5-1-23-0; J. Dawson 7-1-27-0; A. Ali 7.4-0-32-0; M. Smith 5-0-24-0.