Following on from a closely fought contest with local rivals Petts Wood, the Ramblas travelled to Chevening looking to build on last week’s performance.
However, once again the rain threatened to scupper the contest so both captains agreed to a reduced twenty over contest to ensure we’d get a result.
As is the tradition, the Ramblas struggled to get a full side out but managed to get ten players ready for the contest. A last minute injury withdrawal took the visitors down to nine men, but unbeknownst to Michael Cooper, James Dilley had managed to ply Luke Sheridan with beer the night before and convince him to play.
On a green top, Cooper won the toss and elected to bowl first with Mark Loughlin and Dilley opening the attack. That decision seemed inspired when Loughlin took a wicket in his first over thanks to a sensational one handed diving catch from Sheridan at cover.
Dilley bowls / Coop and Geoff talk tactics
The pace combo bowled well and looked to keep Chevening’s big hitting opener, Ronan, in check before being replaced by Geoff Parrett and Doug Danks. Unfortunately for the bowlers, Ronan was dispatching the ball to all parts as the hosts reached the century mark inside ten overs.
Parrett picked up a deserved wicket, when Chevening’s skipper Recaldin was deceived by the flight and ‘keeper Matt Rudgyard completed a simple stumping. Hall came on in place of Danks and combined well with Parrett to bring the run rate down. This task was made all the easier when, in the thirteenth over, Ronan reached his century and retired out.
Ramblas trio of twirlers in action
Cooper and Loughlin bowled at the death and built on the good work of Hall and Parrett to keep the scoreboard in check. Cooper picked up the third wicket of the day when we bowled E. Isaac and Chevening finished their twenty overs on 163-3.
Once again, the target was bigger than the Ramblas would have preferred to chase but considering the hosts were 120-2 off twelve overs, it was a great fight back.
In the absence of their regular openers, Rudgyard and Jason Christensen were given the task of getting the visitors off to a strong start. And after Christensen smashed a huge six in the second over all seemed to be going swimmingly.
Matt & Jason open the batting
Alas, as with many innings this season, disaster struck as Christensen and Rudgyard were dismissed in back to back overs to see the Ramblas fall to 8-2 inside the first three overs.
Sheridan and Laurie Stocks were in at three and four respectively and tasked with rebuilding the innings. Excellent bowling from the hosts made the task much harder but the pair dug in and some quickly scampered singles kept the scoreboard ticking along.
After a lean period with the bat this season, Sheridan finally found his feet as he started to find the boundary with increased regularity. But with the score 45-2 off fourteen overs, the duo knew they needed to get a move on. Sheridan went up another gear, hitting a flurry of fours and sixes to bring up his maiden fifty.
Laurie digs in / Luke salutes his maiden fifty
Knowing he had to follow suit, Stocks fell for a hard fought 13, clean bowled attempting to go big. Cooper came in at five and after hitting two boundaries was clean bowled trying to smash the ball to deep mid wicket.
With over 60 required from the last over, the game was all but over. But that didn’t stop the Ramblas from trying to get as many runs in the board as possible.
Sheridan finally fell for a scintillating 73, which included 9 fours and 3 sixes. Parrett’s stay lasted one ball, caught at extra cover trying to go over the top. Loughlin was the next man in, hitting a six first ball before being bowled second ball.
Mark & Geoff hit out, with varying degrees of success…
The Ramblas finished on 114-7, losing by 49 runs as Chevening claimed bragging rights for the season.
It might be tough dealing with another defeat but there are still plenty of positives to take from the game as we look to next week’s game.
Ramblas MVP: Easy one this week, for his sparkling one handed catch and some brutal hitting in his 73, the MVP is Luke Sheridan.