Rams bid to steady the ship

2:43pm Wednesday 13th August 2008

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RAMSBOTTOM go into the weekend’s fixtures hoping to arrest a series of erratic results which has seen them slip from third in the Lancashire League into the bottom half of the table.

The latest disappointment was Sunday’s 27-run defeat at the hands of East Lancashire rivals Rawtenstall, who reinforced their superiority following the 118-run win several weeks ago.

But Rammy entertain lowly Rishton on Saturday before they go to top-of-the-heap Accrington on Sunday, and although recent results have not gone their way, they are only three wins off the top.

Acting captain Chris Read cites the Worsley Cup semi-final loss at the hands of Todmorden on July 5 as the start of the slide.

“Our season was looking very promising,” he said. “We got to the cup semi-final and we were third in the league, but we then lost the tie.

“It might have knocked the wind out of our sails for a couple of weeks. The team have tried bouncing back, but a couple of things haven’t gone our way.

“We’ve just not played well consistently enough against our main rivals in the league, like Rawtenstall.”

He said that Sunday’s performance was promising, although the Ramsbottom men came up short.“There were a lot of positives to take out of it,” he said. “With eight games remaining and also with us having to play the top teams for five out of those eight, there is still a hell of a lot to play for and we’re pretty optimistic we can get ourselves as high in that table as possible.

“We’re not writing ourselves off. We are only three wins from the top and the team that are top (Accrington), we have to play twice.”

And Read explained how the Gods have conspired against Ramsbottom’s Australian professional Shane Harwood, whose zip with the ball has been nullified by some indifferent summer weather which has slowed up the pitches.

“He’s a very good opening bowler and he’s good with the bat,” said Read. “It’s just a shame we have not had a dry summer with hard flat pitches to make the most of his bowling.”

Read is deputising for club captain Simon Read, who is recovering from a knee ligament injury.

“He’s back in light training,” said Read. “But we don’t know how it’s going to react.

We need him back, because his leadership, batting and bowling are all massive assets.”