Bashley-Rydal’s Western Australian prodigy Luke Ronchi smashed the Calmore Sports attack for 144, admitting afterwards that his first 70 runs were "a bit scratchy"

Mike Vimpany (as published in Daily Echo)07-Jul-2002Bashley-Rydal’s Western Australian prodigy Luke Ronchi smashed the Calmore Sports attack for 144, admitting afterwards that his first 70 runs were "a bit scratchy"!The 21-year old Perth wicket keeper-batsman flayed six 6s and 13 fours in a season’s best ECB Southern Electric Premier League knock which set up Bashley’s 93-run win."There was a lot of playing and missing, particularly before lunch, but I felt pretty good and middled the ball a fair bit later on," he confessed.With the ball moving about off the damp surface, Ronchi had to get his head down and graft during the morning session.But, after enjoying a productive 117-run second-wicket partnership with Chris Sketchley (42), Ronchi came out of his comparative shell – and took the Calmore bowling apart.His pulled two of his sixes into the gardens of houses in the adjoining Bashley Common Road and launched another – off the back foot – clean over the pavilion!In between, spectators were treated to an array of cover drives and pulls, many of which scorched to the boundary.Ronchi was looking good for a double hundred when, to Calmore’s relief, he was caught low down at backward point by James Hibberd for a spectacular 144.It was Ronchi’s first league century of the season, but the summer’s highest individual Premier 1 score.Andy Sexton, with an unbeaten 42, and Richard Knowles took Bashley on to an unassailable 273-4 declared in the 62nd over.Calmore’s reply got off to the worst possible start with Tom Pegler trapped leg before by John Whiting (2-38) and Kevin Nash having Mark Boston caught behind.It was left to Jez Goode to keep the Calmore innings afloat – the stylish left-hander hitting 67 before being brilliantly run out by Dale Middleton at 107-5.Clive Surry and Paul Cass offered middle-order support, but it was Nash, with a season’s best 4-27 off 15 overs, who made significant inroads into Calmore’s top order.The innings lurched to 108-6 before closing at an eventual 180 all out."They took a fair bit of winkling out and it wasn’t until the penultimate over that Andy Sexton finally got the tenth wicket."It was handy being able to bring a spin bowler on at that late stage – and it paid dividends."I could see us not digging them out, as Calmore battled very hard indeed," said triumphaht Bashley skipper Neil Taylor.Andover, the early season pace-setters, were shot out for 94 and comprehensively beaten by eight-wickets by South Wilts at London Road.They struggled after being put into bat on the damp surface, losing half their wickets for 40, with Adam Smith (3-30) causing a lot of early damage.Mark Miller (17) kept Andover buoyant, while Dean Woodhouse (15) offered middle-order resistance in between Paul Draper (3-14) and Shaun Adam (2-26) cutting through the lower order.Russell Rowe (33) gave South Wilts a positive start, laving Jon Nash (26 not out) to guide the visitors to an easy win.Bournemouth bowled bottom-of-the-table Burridge out for 121, but lost six wickets before clinching victory at Chapel Gate.Play began 2-half hours late because of the soaked outfield and immediately Burridge began to struggle with Richard Scott (2-33) nailing Hampshire Under-19 left-hander Ben Thane.Liverpudlian Jo Wilson (4-27) reduced the visitors to 59-5 and, after two wickets each by Dan Jackson and Chris Cole, it appeared as though Burridge might struggle to reach double figures.But some spirited batting by Paul Williams, Paul Wild and Nick Creal in the tail saw them improve from 88-8 to 121 all out.Bournemouth’s push for victory was anything but straightforward, with openers Matt Swarbrick and Alex Allum back in the pavilion with only ten runs on the board.The Sports Club lurched to 33-3 and, after a three-wicket burst by Moen Cheema (3-30), 98-6 (Martin Miller 21).Before Geoff Warrington’s 22 not out guided Bournemouth to a rather unconvincing victory."Both sides bowled pretty well and there wasn’t much good batting around, but the conditions were very damp," said Bournemouth skipper Swarbrick. "We bowled too many extras (32), but got home in the end and really that’s all that matters."