After losing the toss and being put into bat, the R’s showed very quickly that this was not the best decision. A blistering half century from Jon Primmett put the visitors well ahead of the game, and for the most part all Shakeel Khan needed to do was watch from the other end as his partner showed no sign of letting up the scoring. Primmett then lost his wicket just after reaching his 50, bowled after going for another big shot.

Tom Clover and Khan then continued to tick over the score at an impressive rate, and just after drinks, Khan brought up his first half century of the season. For the second half of the innings, the R’s could really afford to up the ante, and Khan eventually lost his wicket for 68 after another attempted big shot. Clover was the next to reach his half century as Ripley also passed the 200 mark. Some late hitting from Clover, Tim Russell and Braydon Pink elevated Ripley to 294-5 from their 45 overs, a huge target for the home side to chase. Clover finished on 84, a marvellous effort from the young batsman, his best first XI score to date.

Ripley went out to bowl, knowing that they now had the opportunity to make a real statement to the rest of the league, which they did. Pink and Leon Caszo set the tone with a couple of threatening opening spells, but Pink was the only one to break through in the first 12 overs.

However the wickets started to tumble as Matt Russell (4) and Toby Zapp (3) soon swung the game firmly in Ripley’s favour, with a clinic in tight bowling throughout the middle. Pink came back on and ensured Leon did not have to turn his arm over again, taking two quick wickets to secure the 20 points for Ripley, and showing that they mean business this season.

It was near on perfect day for the side, with top order runs and wickets spread out among key bowlers, and the R’s are now looking to next week where they face top of the table Putney at home.

George Geaves 1st Team XI Captain

2s XI:
Ripley 2nd XI bounced back strongly from the previous weekend’s damp disappointment with a comfortable victory at home to Lingfield.
Upon winning the toss, Ripley’s bowlers made first use of a far drier pitch than had been seen all season, with the hope of finding some early movement. Although Matthew Cliff bagged an early scalp, there was no early clatter of wickets. However Cliff, Yas Rehman and Richard Zapp maintained a stranglehold on the batsmen. Eventually the pressure told, and it took the introduction of Jack Butler to the attack in the 20th over to initiate a collapse of the visitors’ flimsy batting lineup, as 5 wickets tumbled for 35 to leave Lingfield struggling at 84-6, the wickets being shared between Butler (2-43) and Zapp (a miserly 3-18). From this nadir, Lingfield launched a counterattack, adding 70 for the 7th wicket in just 11 overs, led by the excellent Brown (86), as Ripley’s control of the game slipped somewhat. However after suffering some severe punishment in his first few overs, James Clover (3-50) showed great resilience to keep flighting the ball to grab 3 late wickets, while Rehman returned for an excellent second spell, ultimately only conceding 17 runs from his allotted 9 overs. The Lingfield innings was wrapped up just 2 balls short of their 45 overs for 168, a below-par total in fairly benign conditions, even if this represented something of a recovery. Overall it was another good effort by Ripley in the field, punctuated by a few disappointing lapses, however special mention is reserved for David Hughes who pulled off several brilliant stops around the outfield.
Ripley set about chasing down the target with little fuss. A steady 2nd wicket partnership of 50 between John Grimsdale (24) and David Hughes set the tone, and after the loss of 2 quick wickets induced a few tremors, Steven Cliff then joined Hughes and the pair calmly took control; though the Lingfield bowling and fielding remained tight, good placement and smart running between the wickets characterised their unbroken 4th wicket partnership of 97 which took Ripley to victory with over 6 overs to spare. Hughes remained undefeated on 85, an innings which mixed skilful placement with some very classy strokes, while Cliff lent fine support with 31.
Overall, a heartening team performance from Ripley. Though they will surely face tougher opponents in upcoming weeks, optimism is high that if these standards are maintained, they can mount a strong challenge in the league.

Malcom Burt 2nd team XI captain