RAMSBOTTOM got their season back on track with a comprehensive victory over a Church side that were occupying second place in the table at the start of the day's proceedings.

Asking the opposition to take first knock on a good looking wicket appeared somewhat of a gamble by skipper Hevingham, and he must have had his doubts when both openers had taken the score to 71 without loss, with the Acre Bottom side showing their frailties in the field, dropping Philip Sykes twice.

It was at the above mentioned score that his luck ran out when he drove Chris Eardley straight to mid-off.

The prolific Mark Aspin came in at number three and signalled his intentions from the start, slog sweeping professional Kartik for the maximum.

He had only added two more to his score when he too departed, brilliantly caught at deep mid-on by Robert Read. The Rams then started to turn the screw and runs came in short supply. This frustrated the previously impeccable Church professional Ruvin Peiris and he decided to hit Kartik back over his head.

However, the crafty Indian saw him coming and deceived him in flight, causing the Sri Lankan to sky the ball to deep mid-off where Gowers gratefully accepted the catch.

After this the opposition had no answer to the pace of Eardley and the guile of Kartik, posting a modest score of 139, with the on-song bowlers sharing the wickets around the attack equally.

A good start was needed and provided by the in-form Keith Webb and professional Kartik, who now has started to get his act together with the bat.

The score had raced on to 49 when the Indian got a shooter that pinned him in front of his stumps.

Playing his first game back after knee ligament injuries, Alex Bell joined Webb and they looked in no trouble taking the score on to 68 before the latter pulled a long hop straight into mid-wicket's hands.

Rob Read then came in and the two youngsters showed no sign of nerves, taking the score to 87 before Bell was unluckily adjudged caught behind.

A few of the Rammy faithful began to feel that it might not be the lad's day, but these thoughts were soon dispelled by an excellent partnership by Read (35*) and John Harrison (20*) which took the home side to a maximum points victory with more than nine overs to spare.

A bonus for the Ramsbottom management was the fact that both Bell and Mark Dentith, appearing after pretty serious injuries, came through the game unscathed.