After nearly a month away, the Ramblas returned to Ex Blues as they took on Battersea Eagles. While grey skies and pockets of rain threatened the fixture as the teams arrived, they soon dissipated before they could do any harm.
As the country eagerly awaited football’s inevitable return home courtesy of the Lionesses, Ramblas skipper Michael Cooper was very much focused on the task at hand.
The Ramblas in high spirits
Ajit Kulkarni and JP Aubin Parvu returned to the lineup, as did John Loughlin. With Matt Rudgyard a late call up, Cooper had 12 players at his disposal. And as always, Battersea Eagle also had an extra player so the captains agreed on a 12 a side game with the Ramblas bowling first.
Cooper opened up the bowling alongside James Dilley, and it was the latter who made the breakthrough with the very first ball of the match when he dismantled Safi’s stumps with an unplayable inswinger.
James strikes first ball
The duo bowled well in tandem and Cooper was unlucky not to claim a wicket in his third over when an edge flew between ‘keeper and first slip. A few loose balls from the captain went to the boundary but he got his rewards thanks to a sharp stumping from Jon Loughlin to put the visitors two down.
Dilley and Cooper were replaced by Geoff Parrett and Aubin Parvu and both bowled superbly, carrying on the good work of the openers. But it was Aubin Parvu who grabbed the next wicket, when a bottom edge from the visitor’s captain, Harris, was expertly snaffled by Loughlin behind the stumps.
Aubin Parvu claimed his second of the day the very next over, clean bowling Naeem for 2 as the visitors reached drinks 69-4.
Bowlers keep up the pressure
Unfortunately for Parrett his spell went wicketless but his figures of 6-1-25-0 were impressive as he made way for Ben Sheridan at the tennis court end. The younger Sheridan brother settled into his rhythm quickly and was keeping the batters on their toes. B. Sheridan picked up his fifth wicket of the season with a delivery that beat the defences of Raghu and crashed into the off stump.
With Aubin Parvu bowled out, Luke Sheridan came on to bowl at the death. And the change proved inspired as he clean bowled Faisal for 65. The next over saw B. Sheridan grab his second wicket of the day when he got the batsman in a tangle and claimed a simple caught and bowled effort.
Luke celebrates his first wicket
James Dilley came on in place of B. Sheridan to bowl alongside L. Sheridan at the end. But it was very much the L. Sheridan show at the end as he claimed three more wickets in his final three overs to leave the oppo ten down.
But with their twelth man a no show, Eagles captain Harris was given the chance to bat again and the skipper plundered an extra 19 runs to take the score to 157, with Cooper running out the visitors number 11 off the last ball of the innings.
Following a near flawless performance in the field, the hosts knew that chasing 158 was going to be tough against the calibre of bowling at Battersea’s disposal. And it was Rudgyard and Johnny Stocks who opened the batting, the pair finding runs tricky to come by initially. They soon found their feet and boundaries were becoming more frequent.
Matt & Johnny open the batting
The pair took the score to 44 in the thirteenth over before J. Stocks was caught behind for 20. This led to a mini collapse as Jason Christensen was bowled for a duck and Rudgyard was bowled for 21 in consecutive overs as the Ramblas suddenly found themselves three down.
Kulkarni and Laurie Stocks were the men tasked with the rebuild, but four maidens in a row put the pressure on the hosts as they headed to drinks on 49-3.
L. Stocks got off the mark with an edge that flew down the the third man boundary as the Ramblas got the scoreboard ticking along again. But L. Stocks’ innings ended an over later when a suicidal call from Kulkarni saw the elder Stocks run out.
Loughlin was in at six and while not at his fluent best still mananged to find the boundary four times to drag the Ramblas back into the contest before he was caught for 17. L. Sheridan was the next cab off the rank for the hosts and alongside Kulkarni kept the scoreboard ticking along thanks to some sharp running and a smattering of boundaries.
Ajit & Luke rebuild the innings
With 40 needed off the last five overs, the Ramblas knew they were still in the game but were going to need to step up a gear to get them over the line. But disaster struck when Kulkarni was caught behind for 28, thanks to a remarkable one handed grab from the Eagles’ stand in ‘keeper. L. Sheridan was then caught at deep extra cover for 14 to leave the Ramblas in trouble.
There was a slight delay in proceedings as the Ramblas had no batters padded up, with B. Sheridan and Dilley in a race to be ready for action. B. Sheridan won the race and joined Parrett at the crease.
Geoff & Ben keep the fight going
The new duo batted well but some excellent bowling saw the run rate soar, but a textbook Parrett maximum has the Ramblas dreaming of an unlikely victory with 16 needed. Alas despite the batters best efforts, they could only manage seven off the last over as the Ramblas fell to a nine run defeat.
It was another fantastic game, played in the right spirit, and the Ramblas cannot be faulted for their efforts with both bat and ball.
Ramblas MVP: Honourable mentions to the bowling unit who performed excellently, but for his 28 that helped give us alive in the run chase, this week’s MVP is Ajit Kulkarni.