So here it is, following a grueling and often challenging year, the Ramblas travelled to Oakhill Taverners for the season finale. And has often been the case this year, the quality of the opposition proved too much for the Ramblas collective.
Captain Michael Cooper returned to the side, along with Geoff Parrett, Rahul Saha and Drew Smith, as the Ramblas looked to end the season with a flourish following last week’s defeat to Dartfordians.
First pieces of Ramblas memorabilia
Cooper won the toss, electing to bowl first as three Ramblas sought the holy grail of 100 wickets for the Ramblas. Doug Danks and Mark Loughlin opened the bowling with the former making the breakthrough to dismiss Pulford for a duck. After bowling two away swingers, Loughlin got the third to swing back in to send the stumps cartwheeling.
Early innings energy and enthusiasm
Danks then picked up the wicket of the other opener Richardson, clean bowling the batsman with a ball the clipped the top of off stump. The Ramblas had the hosts 16-2 but knew that there was work still to be done with the quality of the opposition’s middle order.
And their quality shone through as they put the Ramblas bowlers to the sword. Loughlin and Danks were replaced by Fitch and Thomas respectively but the new duo toiled away to no avail. Fitch, looking the one wicket he needed to reach the century mark, was unable to bag a wicket before he was replaced after drinks by Ash Harriss, whose two over burst brought some control back.
Parrett came on in place of Thomas and was another victim of the host’s middle order hitting. After reaching his century, Bailes retired much to the relief of the visitors. Parrett then picked up the third and final wicket of the innings, clean bowling Ayres for 51.
Bowlers feeling the effect of another tough day
Loughlin, Danks, Fitch and Thomas all returned to the attack but none could make any more head way as Oakhill continued to pile on the runs. New boy Saha got his first taste of bowling for the Ramblas and his brief two over spell at the death helped keep the score under 300 as the hosts finished on 297-3.
Not content with hitting the Ramblas all over the shop, the host’s also chose to get stuck into the tea before the visitors had a chance to dust themselves down.
After their strong showing last week, Cooper opted to open the batting with Harriss and Matt Rudgyard. The pair were watchful early doors but some early boundaries from Harriss took the score to 18 before Rudgyard was clean bowled for 1 by a ball that kept low.
Smith was the man in at first drop and together with Harriss looked to put the pressure back on the bowlers. The pair were keen to punish any bad balls, with Smith in particular hitting some delightful boundaries through the covers.
The openers talk tactics as Drew goes big
The Ramblas reached the fifty mark in the tenth over when they hit nine off the over to get the run rate back on track. Yet more boundaries were plundered from the duo as they put on 61 before Smith was trapped LBW for 20.
In at four was Saha, who was cautious initially, keen to support the free flowing Harris who reached his fourth half century of the season just after the drinks break. The pair continued to strike boundaries at regular intervals to keep the hopes of a win alive. However Saha was out with the score on 118, clean bowled by Chute for a 22 ball 27.
Ash salutes another 50 / Rahul on the attack
Gambie was the next man at the crease and after getting off the mark first ball with a fine pull shot, could only add one more run to his tally and was bowled for 3.
Cooper was the next cab off the rank and very much dropped anchor for the first half of his innings as he looked to hang around and support Harriss. The pair put on a lopsided fifteen run partnership before Harriss was trapped LBW for 75. While he was disappointed with the decision, his score meant that he became the first Rambla to score over 800 runs in a single season.
Gambie gets off the mark / Geoff returns from umpiring
With Harriss back in the hutch, the game was all but over. That didn’t mean the Ramblas were throwing in the towel. Done with playing defensive, Cooper smashed the ball over the deep mid wicket fielder for his first boundary of the day.
Parrett was in at seven after Harriss’ dismissal and hit a terrific pull shot to get off the mark before he was clean bowled for 5. Loughlin was in next and along with Cooper attacked the bowlers to give the Ramblas faithful something to cheer about.
The pair took the score to 167 before Loughlin was bowled by King for 6. Danks only lasted two balls before he suffered the same fate as Loughlin. Cooper struck one final boundary before he was trapped LBW for 16.
Captain and vice-captain fighting the good fight
This left Thomas and Fitch as the last men standing, and the pair ran two very hard threes before Fitch was clean bowled on the penultimate ball of the innings for a duck. The Ramblas were all out for 184, a 113 run defeat.
While the result wasn’t the one that the Ramblas wanted to end their tenth season with, there were still plenty of positives to take from both the game and the season. We’ve come a long way from our first ever game, even if we don’t all look as fresh faced…
What a difference a decade makes
Ramblas MVP: Mark Loughlin did well with the ball, and Drew Smith, Rahul Saha and Michael Cooper all contributed with the bat. But for his 75 that gave us a shot at chasing down 297, this week’s MVP is Ash Harriss.
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