After being comprehensively beaten by Ibstock’s U15s basketball team in the week, Ratby arrived seeking revenge at U13 level.

The long awaited return of Joe Matthews was the story of the day, and it wasn’t long until he was in the action. Joe opened the bowling, charging in from a Malcolm Marshall length run up. Ibstock’s opener was in a hurry, depositing Joe for a couple of beautifully stuck boundaries in the first over.
Evan W opened at the other end and bowled a decent line and length. He was rewarded with a wicket, thanks to an assured catch from Noah.

Runs were proving easy to come by, the early start time perhaps to blame for some lethargic fielding and a plethora of wides!

Ratby finally woke up towards the end of the innings. Ciaran Macleod picking up 2-5 in his excellent two overs.

The fielders finally woke up with 3 well taken run outs and Ibstock stuttered to a respectable 108 from their 20 overs.

Ratby openers Max and Murphy started well. Running at every opportunity and finding the boundary regularly. Max struck 5 boundaries and retired on 28. Murphy took a more measured approach, steadily accumulating runs and rotating the strike. Joined by Joe, they kept the tempo up and ran aggressively between the wickets.

After getting set, both Murphy and Joe started to find the boundary and retired on 25 and 26 respectively.

George Odell and Evan W saw Ratby over the line after 13 overs, for the loss of just one wicket. George pumping a delightful on drive to the boundary before retiring to allow debutant Evan B to score his first ever run.

This was another highly accomplished batting display. Work required to improve the energy in the field and reduce the wide count, but all in all a great performance.

A good test to come at Barwell next Sunday.