After surviving the chaos of last week’s game against Simba, the Ramblas were looking forward to a little less drama for their fixture against Hildenborough. It wasn’t all plain sailing as Hildenborough, having their own struggles with availability, had to merge with Hadlow to get a side out.
While disappointed not to be heading to Hildenborough for the first time, the Ramblas were happy to travel to Hadlow’s idyllic ground, keen for a chance of revenge following a defeat earlier in the season.
Ramblas captain Michael Cooper had a relatively easy time getting a side together. With Chris Thomas, Steve Fitch and Dave Gambie unavailable, Cooper welcomed back Drew Smith, Geoff Parrett, Alex Danks, Ed Gibbs and Haydn Evans to the fold. Lewis Barham came in to make his first appearance for the club since 2017.
Cooper won the toss and elected to bat first, confident that a strong bowling attack could defend any total. That and Ash Harriss is in the form of his life with the bat.
Harriss opened the batting with Alex Danks and both got off the mark early on in the innings but thanks to some excellent bowling, runs were hard to come by. Hadlow made an early breakthrough when A. Danks was clean bowled for 4 in the third over.
Smith came in at three and along with Harriss had to weather the storm as the hosts put together three maidens on the bounce. The dam burst in the sixth over when each of the duo registered their first boundaries on the innings.
The pair slowly but surely chipped away at the scoreboard, Smith ably supporting Harriss as he hit a flurry of boundaries, reaching his fifty in the seventeenth over. Smith hit a glorious drive down the ground for a boundary before he fell on the cusp of drinks for 20. The pair had put on a 71 run partnership and set a strong platform to kick on.
Ash & Drew build a platform
Rudgyard replaced Smith and carried on his good work by dropping anchor and letting Harris work his magic. The pair kept rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard ticking along. After taking the score past the century mark, Rudgyard was clean bowled for 7.
Matt at the crease
Evans was the next man in but his tenure at the crease was a short one as he was bowled for a duck. Cooper was the next cab off the rank and ably supported Harriss as he continued to plunder yet more boundaries. Cooper eventually fell LBW for 2 thanks to a ball that kept low.
With five overs left to go, Mark Loughlin and Harriss accelerated innings with Harriss hitting four boundaries as he reached the century mark for the second time this season. The pair put on 51 as the Ramblas finished their innings on 184-5, a decent total to defend.
Ash celebrates his second century
The teams headed in for tea and basked in the sunshine as players tuned into TMS to hear Steve Smith decimating England’s bowling attack. The Ramblas were hoping something similar wasn’t on the cards as they headed out to the field for the second innings.
Cooper opened the bowling with usual combo of Loughlin and D. Danks and the latter made the breakthrough in the second over, when he clean bowled Horne for 2 with a perfectly flighted delivery.
Loughlin picked up his first wicket of the match in the next over, when a slower ball saw Webb mistime his shot and Cooper took an excellent catch at mid off. In his next over, Loughlin clean bowled Hadlow’s captain.
Cooper takes the catch
The innings went from bad to worse for Hadlow when some suicidal running saw both batsmen at the strikers end, and Evans collected the ball and threw it to the Loughlin to register his first run out for the Ramblas. Loughlin then clean bowled Potipher to leave the hosts on 12-5 off eight overs.
Gibbs and Parrett came on in place of Loughlin and D. Danks respectively, and while Parrett bowled the odd loosener, Gibbs was bowling beautifully, giving nothing away with a tight line and length. Once his radar was back on, Parrett picked up the sixth wicket of the day thanks to a smart catch by Harriss at mid on.
Ash celebrates taking a great catch
Parrett only had to wait five more deliveries to claim his second wicket when Nation popped up a simple catch to Loughlin in the covers. Parrett was replaced by Cooper and Gibbs by Barham as the Ramblas skipper rotated his bowlers.
Cooper carried on the good work of the previous bowlers, offering nothing to hit but his four over spell went wicketless. At the other end, Barham shifted from pace to spin after one over and despite a couple of full tosses, kept the pressure on Hadlow’s tail. Barham got his deserved wicket when he clean bowled Jenkins for 27. Barham got his second in his next over, clean bowling Dineer for a duck.
Drew keeps himself busy in the field
Gibbs and Parrett came back into the attack and while their standards didn’t drop from their previous spell, neither were able to pick up the final wicket. Barham came back on and clean bowled Wood to wrap up a hundred run win for the Ramblas.
In what was a complete team performance, the Ramblas notched their fifth win of an ever improving season. The team excelled with both bat and ball and didn’t give an inch in the field.
The Ramblas host Locksbottom next Sunday, keen to carry on their good form over the last six weeks.
Ramblas MVP: While it may have been an excellent team performance, there can only be one MVP this week. An honourable mention to Mark Loughlin for his contribution with both bat and ball, but for his 132* and a catch in the field, it has to be Ash Harriss.
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