Ridgeway Cricket Club

UP NEXT

After Saturday’s defeat to Chesterfield, the lads head to Swanwick Hall for our final away match of the season.

With just three games remaining, we will be looking to finish the season as strongly as possible and looking to finish as high in the league as we can.

This match is proudly sponsored by George and Active Summer Camps, who do a fantastic job of engaging children in activities and keeping them active, especially in our community. A huge thank you for your continued support of the club.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Ridgeway slipped to a six-wicket defeat against Chesterfield on Saturday, with the visitors proving the better side on the day.

Despite the result, there was a pretty clear winner when it came to our Player of the Match award, with the quite ridiculously in-form Keelan McNally once again taking the honours.

Coming into bat with a total licence to play as freely as he wanted, Keelan delivered yet again. A quick-fire 34 not out from just 22 balls helped push us beyond the 200 mark and at the time we felt it was a more than challenging total.

With the ball, despite the team not quite hitting the levels we have all season and Chesterfield putting us under pressure early, Keelan was once again our biggest threat, taking three crucial wickets.

Congratulations Keelan!

MATCH RESULT

On a warm August afternoon, Ridgeway suffered a comprehensive six-wicket defeat to Chesterfield, our first home defeat of the season.

Captain Zach Gage led the lads today, with Chesterfield winning the toss and electing to bowl first.

Gavin Stevens led the way with 41, while club legend Steven Dudley struck 36 and James Bushell added 32. With wickets in hand and the freedom to attack, Keelan McNally and Zach Gage then took us beyond 200, finishing on a very healthy 214/5 from our 40 overs.

Keelan’s incredible run of form continued as he smashed an unbeaten 34 from just 22 balls, while Zach hit 32 from 19 to give us plenty to defend.

Unfortunately, Chesterfield came flying out of the blocks. They attacked anything short and punished anything over-pitched, making their intentions very clear from the off.

Despite three wickets from Keelan McNally and one from James Bushell, Chesterfield were four wickets down with 70 still required. However, they continued to play aggressively and ultimately chased down the total with five overs to spare.

Defeat on the day, but it certainly wasn’t for the lack of trying. We felt we had enough with the bat, but we didn’t quite hit the high standards we’ve set ourselves with the ball this year..

Credit to Chesterfield, they were one of the best batting sides we’ve faced all season.

The defeat puts a huge dent in our hopes of finishing in the top two, but with changes coming to the league in 2027 to accommodate incoming clubs, you never know what might happen.

Three games left. Three big games.

Next up, we head to Swanwick Hall next Saturday. Our last away trip of the season.

We go again.

Points - Ridgeway 7 Chesterfield 22

A huge thank you to Chill Holistic Therapies for sponsoring today’s match. Your support is massively appreciated by everyone at the club.

TEAM NEWS

Today’s team sees a few familiar faces come into the side as we get set for another big game.

Keelan McNally, Raja Ali, Sameer Jha and club legend Steven Dudley all feature for Ridgeway today.

MATCHDAY

The lads host Chesterfield today at Ridgeway Sports and Social Club in another tough game as the promotion race continues to heat up.

With just four games remaining, every point matters and the boys will be looking to put in a big performance and keep the pressure on at the top.

A huge thank you to Chill Holistic Therapies for your support today. It is very much appreciated by everyone at the club.

Whatever you’re up to this weekend, we hope you have a SMASHING one!

UP NEXT

With the season rapidly approaching its conclusion, the lads welcome Chesterfield to the Ridgeway Sports and Social Club this Saturday as we look to take another huge step towards promotion.

Just four games remain for the boys from S12:

This Saturday - Chesterfield - Home

Saturday August 29th Swanwick Hall - Away

Saturday September 5th Eckington - Home

Saturday September 12th Matlock & Cromford Meadows - Home

Four games. One objective. WIN. EVERY. GAME.

A huge thanks to Chill Holistic Therapies for sponsoring the match this weekend, your support is appreciated by everyone at the club.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

After the thrilling victory over Belper Amateurs on Saturday, it took a real team effort to get us over the line. It was a fantastic game of cricket from both teams that could only be described as a classic.

There were some fantastic individual performances. Peter Holmes bowled superbly and kept the runs down during his spell, Will Cooper chipped in with some important runs, while James Bushell’s four wickets turned the game on its head and gave us a great chance of sealing the win.

But it was a phenomenal innings down the order that really caught the eye.

This week’s Player of the Match is Martyn Foulds!

Martyn looked in exquisite touch, combining superb timing, great placement and explosive power as he smashed 55, his maiden half-century for the club.

A brilliant innings that only got better the longer he was at the crease, taking the game to Belper Amateurs when we needed it most.

A fantastic contribution in a memorable victory for Ridgeway.

Congratulations, Mart!

MATCH RESULT

Quite simply, an absolute thriller at the weekend as Ridgeway came out on top against Belper Amateurs in a sheer classic, winning by just 2 runs in a game that went right down to the very last ball.

Belper Amateurs won the toss and stuck us in. Openers Gavin Stevens (23) and Jake Hill (18) navigated some challenging early bowling, with plenty of short stuff whizzing past the ears on more than one occasion.

James Bushell (22) and Will Cooper (45) then came to the crease and took the game to the opposition in their usual fashion, looking to build a challenging total. But a couple of wickets put us firmly on the back foot and for a while, the innings looked like it was slipping away.

Then came Martyn Foulds.

The introduction of Martyn completely changed the tempo of our innings as he went into crazy mode, scoring at a phenomenal rate and dragging us right back into the game with some absolutely blazing shots all around the ground. He was eventually out for 55 in a brilliant effort.

It was Martyn’s maiden half-century for Ridgeway and what a time to produce it!

We eventually finished on 219/7 from our 40 overs. Given the position we had been in, we were probably happy with that but we knew Belper Amateurs had plenty of firepower in their batting line-up and we’d have to be right on it.

And what followed was an absolute classic.

The pendulum swung from one side to the other throughout the chase. Belper Amateurs were never interested in settling for a draw and went after the target at full throttle, looking for all the points.

Wickets were shared between Captain Ash Roberts and Jake Hill as we put ourselves into a commanding position, while Peter Holmes bowled another miserly spell to put the brakes on the chase as he got an important wicket aswell.

Just when we thought Belper had far too much to do, Josh Pickering came to the crease and smashed a quickfire 34, sending the ball to all parts and giving the lads plenty to sweat about!

Then James Bushell was thrown the ball and he truly delivered.

Stump-to-stump bowling, all the tricks in the book and an absolutely outstanding spell saw James completely turn the game on its head, finishing with a brilliant 4/38.

But Belper had one more twist.

Opener Dylan Garnett produced a superb 113, almost single-handedly dragging the home side over the line. Keeping the strike and looking to finish it himself, before a brilliant catch in the deep from Gavin Stevens finally saw the back of him. An outstanding innings from a very good player indeed.

With 10 needed from the final over, the game was anyone’s.

But we held our nerve.

A couple of run outs and a wicket from Will Cooper with the very last ball of the match finally sealed an unbelievable victory for Ridgeway on the road.

BELPER AMATEURS 217
RIDGEWAY 219/7

RIDGEWAY WIN BY 2 RUNS!

A nail-biting finish to an unbelievable game of cricket as both teams pushed relentlessly for victory in an all-time classic.

An outstanding win for the boys from S12. Results like that show just how far we’ve come as a team. In previous years, we’d have been on the wrong end of nerve-wracking games like that but every single player did their bit and we somehow got over the line.

…and breathe!

We certainly needed a beer or two after that one.

Points - Belper Amateurs 3 Ridgeway 27

A huge thanks to TECHNI-FORM EDM LIMITED for your sponsorship of the match at the weekend. Your support is very much appreciated!