On a scorching Sunday afternoon, the Ramblas travelled down to Hildenbrough for this season’s return fixture, aiming to claim a club record fifth consecutive win.
Johnny Stocks, Drew Smith and John Loughlin returned to the Ramblas lineup, with Stuart Dilley making his first appearance of the season. After winning the toss, captain Michael Cooper chose to bowl first, confident of his side’s ability to chase down targets.
Cooper opened the bowling with James Dilley and, a few loose balls aside, bowled well in tandem. However, a fast outfield meant that the hosts kept the run rate ticking over. Following last week’s incident at Petts Wood, J. Dilley further enhanced his reputation as the bad boy of Sunday social cricket when Davies misjudged a short pitched delivery and copped a ball in the eyebrow. Luckily the batsman was ok after a trip to A&E, but the retirement saw Hildenborough’s number three arrive at the crease in less than ideal circumstances.
Keen to rotate his bowlers, Cooper and J. Dilley made way for Geoff Parrett and S. Dilley. While Parrett was bowling superbly, S. Dilley struggled with his length as the batsmen looked to seize control of the innings. At the first drinks breaks, Hildenborough were 68-0 off 12 overs but the Ramblas were still very much in the contest.
J. Stocks replaced S. Dilley and looked threatening from ball one but his three over spell proved wicketless. Needing to find the breakthrough, Cooper rolled the dice and brought himself back on in place of J. Stocks and the move proved inspired as he clean bowled Sands with the first ball of the new spell.
Parrett then picked up a deserved wicket, when Waites slashed at a wide one and the faintest of edges was snaffled by Matt Rudgyard behind the stumps. Hildenborough’s skipper Webb was looking in ominous form, striking two boundaries in Cooper’s final over before he tried one big shot too many and was caught by Parrett at deep mid wicket.
The hosts reached the second drinks break 152-3 off 24 overs and the game was still delicately poised. Cooper was replaced by J. Stocks and Smith came on in place of Parrett. The bowling change paid dividends when J. Stocks took a simple caught and bowled effort with the first ball after the drinks break.
In his first spell of bowling for a long time, Smith was bowling superbly, keeping the batsmen on their toes with some fizzing deliveries. Smith nabbed his first wicket of the season when he clean bowled Herbert with a peach of a delivery.
J. Stocks claimed another caught and bowled effort in his next over as the Ramblas clawed back some momentum. J. Dilley and Parrett finished off proceedings and managed to keep the hosts to 206-6 off their 35 overs.
Following a relaxing and revitalising period in the shade, the Ramblas set about chasing down the total. J. Stocks and Loughlin were tasked to get the innings off to a strong start. However, disaster struck at the end of the second over when Loughlin was bowled for 5.
Things got even worse when Luke Sheridan was caught behind for a duck off a delivery that pitched up and found the edge. Jason Christensen came in at four and looked in good touch before he was dismissed for 8. The Ramblas collapse was complete when Laurie Stocks was out for a duck to leave the Ramblas 34-4 and in a lot of trouble.
Rudgyard was the next man in and along with J. Stocks helped rebuild the innings. Rudgyard assumed the role of aggressor and dispatched several balls to the boundary in an exciting, if occassionaly nervy wracking, innings.
Alas, with the score on 70-4, Rudgayrd was controversially run out for 18. Rudgyard was convinced that the bowler disturbed the stumps with his hand before he had control of the ball. But the umpire was unmoved by the appeals of the batsman and he had to head back to the pavillion.
Smith came in at seven and worked well with J. Stocks to keep the Ramblas in the game. The pair looked in terrific touch with some sharp running and cleanly struck boundaries to keep the Ramblas in contention. Smith even brought out the reverse sweep, much to the away team’s delight.
The visitors got to the the 25th over at 133-5, with 74 needed of the last ten overs. The Ramblas has somehow dragged themselves back into the match thanks to a fantastic sixth wicket partnership.
J. Stocks reached his deserved fifty before falling for a well fought 51. Parrett came to the crease with 51 runs needed off 5 overs. Parrett brought out all the big shots to try and keep up with the run rate. Sadly for the Ramblas some excellent death bowling saw scoring chances hard to come by, and with 16 runs needed off the final two balls, Parrett was stumped trying to sneak a cheeky bye.
The Ramblas finished on 191-7, 15 runs short of victory in another absorbing contest. Congratulations to Hildenborough for claiming the bragging rights until next season, but for the Ramblas there were plenty of postives to take as we take on Chevening next Sunday.
Ramblas MVP: It was a gruelling effort in heat but for their prowess with the ball to go with their heroic efforts with the bat, this week’s MVPs are Johnny Stocks and Drew Smith.