The Ramblas’s struggles continued as they suffered a 156 run defeat at the hands of Chislehurst.
Despite a raft of regulars missing for the game, Ramblas captain Cooper was able to call upon the services of Steve Fitch, Drew Smith and Rehan Qureshi. Rounding up the XI were Neil Radburn, Jake Stratford and Tanhim Shamit, the latter making his debut for the club.
Cooper won the toss and elected to bowl first, with Mark Loughlin and Stratford opening the bowling. Both bowled well first up, with Stratford unlucky to see several edges fly to gaps in the field rather than to fielders.
Jake opening the bowling
Cooper and Chris Thomas replaced Loughlin and Stratford respectively but both struggled with their rhythm. With the visitors openers well set, runs started to flow with increasing regularity, much to the Ramblas chagrin.
Shamit and Fitch came into the attack just before drinks break but were unable to make the breakthrough as Chislehurst reached at halfway point of the innings at 136-0.
Ramblas bowlers toil in the sun
The hosts fortunes improved slightly when Chislehurst’s opener Tom Mitchell retired after reaching his century. It still took until the 26th over, and with the score on 200 for the first wicket to fall, courtesy of a sharp catch at mid wicket by Qureshi off the bowling of Fitch.
Fitch picked up his second wicket of the day in his final over thanks to a straight forward catch at square leg by Cooper.
Ramblas celebrate Stitch’s first wicket
Thomas, who had earlier replaced Shamit, picked up his 19th wicket of an impressive season when Loughlin took an excellent running catch at mid wicket.
Smith and Stratford came on to bowl at the death and some tidy bowling saw two more wickets fall. First up, a sharp pick up and throw from Qureshi at mid wicket saw Rudgyard whip off the bails at the strikers end to run out Chislehurst’s captain Puri.
Stratford picked up a deserved wicket in his final over, dismissing Siddiq with a simple caught and bowled effort. Chislehurst ended their innings on 281-5.
After tucking into another sterling Ramblas tea, Johnny Stocks and Loughlin strode to the crease to start the mammoth run chase. While the pair were initially watchful, they both opened their accounts with a boundary before Loughlin was clean bowled for 5.
Qureshi was in at three and was in good touch early doors, and as ever with a Qureshi innings boundaries were in healthy supply, hitting four 4s and one 6 as he raced to 25. However, with the score on 52, disaster struck as both Stocks and Qureshi fell in consectutive overs.
Rehan in full flow
Radburn and Smith were tasked with the rebuild but the former was back in the hutch before planning permission had even been granted, caught behind for 4. Shamit was in at six and after hitting his first ball for a boundary, was out three balls later, caught at extra cover.
The wicket bought Rudgyard to the crease who looked back to his very best, dispatching the ball to all parts as he helped the Ramblas get past the century mark. Smith fell shortly after, caught at mid wicket for 7.
Radders at the crease
Stratford was the next man in to support Rudgyard but the pair could only put on 8 before Rudgyard was bowled for an fantastic 27 ball 33. Cooper was the next cab off the rank and managed to bag a few runs as he looked to support Stratford at the other end.
Cooper was bowled for 3 with the score on 121, with Thomas replacing the Ramblas captain at the crease. Stratford and Thomas added four more to the total before they were both clean bowled in back to back overs. The Ramblas were all out for 125, with Stratford’s 14 offering a hint of brighter things to come from the youngster.
In what was a chastening defeat for the Ramblas, their batting struggles once again came to the fore. Luckily there are still three more games to finish the season with a flourish.
Handshakes all round after the game
Ramblas MVP: While it may have been a tough day at the office, there were still a couple of stand out performers. This week’s MVPs are Matt Rudgyard for his fluent 33 and Jake Stratford for his 1-37 with the ball alongside his 14 with the bat.