Back by popular demand, the Ramblas managed to bring the band back together for one more game of the 2020 season. And much like ageing rock bands of old, the team that took the field looked much different than the ones that went before.
Only four players from last week’s game against Oakhill Taverners were available for the game against new opponents London Itinerants. Simon Triggs, Jason Christensen, Haydn Evans and Ed Gibbs all returned to the lineup and making their debuts for the Ramblas were Jack Stone and Taylor Gable.
Geoff Parrett was due to complete the lineup but due to a hangover that meant while he was physically at the game, mentally and emotionally he was unavailable for selection. Luckily for Ramblas skipper, Lewis Barham was once again in the right place at the right time and he replaced Parrett in the XI.
Cooper won the toss and elected to bowl first, opting to go with his classic bowling attack of Mark Loughlin and Doug Danks. The pair were amongst the wickets early doors, Loughlin taking his first of the day thanks to a simple catch at cover from Gable to dismiss Wright. Danks picked up the second wicket the following over when an ugly heave from Mustafa saw him clean bowled for a duck.
Ramblas celebrating Dougs wicket
London Itinerants rebuilt their innings and took their score to 49 before Danks nabbed his second wicket of the day thanks to a great catch on the run from Gable. Danks and Loughlin were replaced by Gibbs and Cooper respectively.
Alas, the new bowling attack were seemingly no match for the visitor’s middle order and after five disappointing overs, Cooper was taken out of the attack and replaced by Gable. Gibbs managed to make the breakthrough in his final over, trapping Itinerants’ skipper Joshi LBW for 48.
Ed ready to bowl as the skipper paces the boundary rope
Gable’s first over was expensive but he found his feet soon after, keeping the batsman honest with a nagging line and length. The rookie got his reward when he clean bowled Kundu for 98, after the batsman tried to reach his century with a slog into the leg side.
Loughlin and Barham replaced Gibbs and Gable as Cooper looked to keep it tight at the death. Barham backed up a maiden in his first over, with a wicket in his second, clean bowling Staples with a perfectly delivered slower ball.
Loughlin, clearly not wishing to be outdone by his pace rival, dismissed Batra with his own excellent slower ball. He made it two wickets in two deliveries thanks to a fantastically nonchalant one handed catch by Gibbs at silly mid off.
Lewis & Taylor begin the fightback
Barham picked up the ninth wicket of the game when he clean bowled Harrington in the penultimate over of the innings. The Itinerants ended their 35 overs on 242-9 and the Ramblas knew they had quite the task on their hands to sign off the season with a win.
Matchday photographer Lucy’s pic of the day
Triggs and Barham opened the batting for the Ramblas and the duo looked in good touch early doors, both playing sensibly and stealing singles where possible. Disaster struck on the sixth over when Barham was out LBW for 2.
Davies came in at three and along with Triggs kept the scoreboard ticking over. After some dubious running early doors from the pair, they soon found their rhythm and successfully saw off the opening bowling attack.
With the pair now settled at the crease, the runs, and boundaries, flowed with increased regularity. Triggs brought up his maiden fifty for the Ramblas as the hosts took the score past the century mark. Triggs and Davies’ partnership also reached three figures before the latter was bowled for a well played 43.
Rich at the crease / Simon salutes his fifty
Christensen came in at four and in his usual fashion was off the mark with a boundary. Triggs was also dealing in boundaries as he raced from 50 to 70 in quick time before he was clean bowled trying another attacking shot.
In at five was Stone, and along with Christensen toned down the big hits in favour of quick singles as the pair looked to rebuild. But with the score on 153, Christensen was out for 17 trying to kick on his innings.
The wicket brought Evans to the crease, keen to finish off his season in style. And he did just that, driving the ball through the covers for his first boundary for the Ramblas. Alas, a mistimed shot saw him stumped for 6.
Haydn celebrates his maiden boundary
Gable joined fellow newbie Stone at the crease and with the run rate ever increasing, the pair attempted to accelerate proceedings. The duo hit some hard struck boundaries before Stone was stumped on 17. Gable was out an over later for 8, also stumped.
Jack on the attack / Ed’s umpiring debut
Cooper and Gibbs were tasked with finishing off the innings in some semblance of style and the pair took the score to 199 before Gibbs was caught in the covers for 4. Keen to face the last few balls of the innings, Cooper called for a risky single that was made to look all the more ridiculous when he was comfortably run out by the ‘keeper.
Loughlin and Danks had three balls left to take the host’s score above 200, which they did on the final ball of the match as the Ramblas finished on 201-9. While they couldn’t quite pull off the chase, a fifth 200+ score in eight games showed how good the batting has been this season.
And just like that, the 2020 season draws to a close. In what was a tough, challenging season on and off the field, the Ramblas ended the season with another hard fought game of cricket and can take a lot of positives into the 2021 season.
Ramblas MVP: Simon Triggs. A splendid knock of 70 that gave the Ramblas a sniff of victory.