The Clifton 2s promotion hopes were dealt another blow on Saturday, with a heavy defeat to Horwich, backing up the loss at Darcy Lever last week, leaving them 7pts behind both of those clubs in 3rd place and plenty of work to now do to get back in the hunt.
In sweltering conditions, it was a bad toss to lose for the returning captain Liam Dorsey, with the visitors opting to bat against a Clifton side missing a few key players.
However, it only took until the 6th ball of the day for Tom Worthington to make the breakthrough, and with Horwich 15/1 after 6 overs it was a tidy enough start.
As Horwich looked to kick on, Tom picked up another to end a tidy spell of 2-27 from 7, before the introduction of Daanyaal Mehmood brought a wicket with his first ball to leave the visitors 38/3 and in a bit of trouble.
The game was then turned on its head over the next 90 minutes or so with a 150 run partnership, where Rippengal smashed his way to a dominating 144. He made his intentions clear from the start where he pounced on an over of short balls from Mehmood to clear the short boundary and he never looked back.
It was a day to forget for the bowling attack, as they had no answers to the onslaught until Lewis Keogh’s second spell removed both set batsmen, whose figures of 3-51 off 11 overs was the pick, and 10 of them a result of wides.
With a daunting target of 283 in front of them, Clifton then aimed to repeat the first innings by also finding themselves in trouble at 38/3 following the wickets of Owen Hogben (5), Dan Jones (1) and Lewis Keogh (1). Sam Winstanley (6) fell shortly afterwards and 283 looked a long, long way away at 55/4.
Another outstanding knock of 77 from Ethan Kite couldn’t quite replicate the match winning knock from Rippengal, but it was yet another step forward after a series of impressive knocks from the youngster, who will have been sick to have been run out with his maiden century in sight.
Only Liam Dorsey (15) and Jack Barton (33) offered him any support with the bat, so even the consolation of the batting bonus point was missed out on.
A 7pt gap to the top two sets a stiff challenge if promotion is still the hope this season.