Fresh from an exciting season opener the previous week, the Ramblas travelled to Chislehurst looking for a maiden victory against their old rivals. With Chris Thomas, Rehan Qureshi, Alex Danks and Ed Gibbs all unavailable for selection, Ramblas skipper Michael Cooper had to once again work his recruiting magic.
Last year’s player of the year winner Ash Harriss and former skipper Johnny Stocks made their season debuts, as did Sam Ford. Rich Davies and last minute pick up Dan Marriot rounded off the XI.
Cooper won his second toss of the season and with a decent track and a fast outfield opted to bat first. Harriss and Stocks opened the batting and while their styles may be different they combined perfectly to put the bowlers on the back foot from ball one.
Harriss dispatched any loose deliveries to the boundary rope, as he raced to his fifty off just 34 balls. Stocks was the more watchful of the two but still found time to unleash his customary cut shot to devastating effect. Alas, the partnership was ended on 71 when Harriss was bowled for 56 by a delivery that kept low.
Ford was the man in at first drop and initially struggled to find his rhythm, and the home team clawed back some control with three consecutive maidens. However, once Ford got his eye in there was no stopping him. Ford and Stocks piled on the runs with the Ramblas knowing that a score of 200+ was needed if they were going win this game.
Ford raced to his fifty and with ten overs to go, the duo really upped the ante before Stocks was cruelly run out for 44. After the bowler deflected a Ford drive onto the stumps, Stocks couldn’t believe his luck as he left the field. A partnership of 113 was some consolation for the opener.
Davies came in at four and ably supported Ford as he continued to smite Chislehurst’s attack before he finally fell for 89. Drew Smith was the next, and last, man in and the pair helped the Ramblas reach 210 from their 35 overs.
At the innings break, players sought sustenance, and for those who hadn’t batted it also gave them time to finally get changed into their whites.
Cooper once again opened the bowling attack with Mark Loughlin and Doug Danks. They both bowled excellently from the off but some attacking shots, aided by a fast outfield saw them race to 32 in under 5 overs.
The breakthrough came in the final ball of the fifth over when a suicidal piece of running saw Smith comfortably ran out Goyal for 17. Danks picked up his first wicket the very next ball with a beautifully flighted ball that dismissed Johnson for a duck.
Parrett replaced Loughlin and after a wobbly first over was back to his best, bamboozling the batsmen and picking up the wicket of Sankar for 33 with a ball that fizzed through the batsman’s defences.
The hosts were 62-3 after nine overs and the game was delicately poised. However, Harris and Mitchell took the attack to the Ramblas and the pair kept Chislehurst up with the run rate. With Danks bowled out, Cooper turned to Marriot to hold up an end and he combined well with Parrett to keep the Ramblas in the contest.
Parrett was replaced with Ford and he was immediately in on the action, picking up the wicket of Harris thanks to a smart catch at backward square leg by Smith.
The Ramblas finally picked up the key wicket of Mitchell for 65 thanks to a fantastic catch from Smith at deep extra cover off the bowling of Marriot. The hosts were now 145-5 and the Ramblas smelt blood.
Chislehurst kept chipping away at the total but some sharp fielding from the Ramblas kept the scoreboard in check. Marriot picked up his second wicket thanks to a well taken catch from Ford at silly mid-on.
Three overs later Ford also nabbed his second wicket of the game thanks to an excellent one handed catch at first slip from Davies. With Chislehurst only having ten men, it meant that the Ramblas only needed two more wickets to wrap up victory.
Loughlin replaced the bowled out Marriot and saw a few edges race to the boundary to keep the pressure on the visitors. But Loughlin wrapped things up in the second over of his new spell when Harriss caught Khanna at mid-wicket and Barnes was clean bowled in successive deliveries.
After 66.3 overs of hard fought cricket, the Ramblas were victorious by 18 runs. The players excelled in all three areas of the game and go into next Sunday’s revenge game against Hildenborough full of confidence.
Ramblas MVP: Sam Ford. 89 with the bat and 2-31 with the ball says it all.