The Kent Ramblas returned to winning ways in thrilling fashon, securing a one wicket victory against the London Itinerants on the final ball of the match.

Captain Michael Cooper welcomed James Dilley, Ben Sheridan, Luke Sheridan and Geoff Parrett back to the fold. JP Aubin Parvu also stepped up to the plate as the Ramblas boasted one of the strongest sides of the season.

While Cooper was running late due to the late finish of the Women’s World Cup, vice captain Thomas lost the toss and the Ramblas were put in the field. Thomas opted to open the bowling with himself and Jake Stratford.

The opening pair bowled well in tandem up top, but the Itinerants’ batters were quick to punish anything short. Stratford made the breakthrough in the sixth over when Kundu’s drive was expertly pouched by B. Sheridan at extra cover.

Thomas and Stratford were replaced by Aubin-Parvu and Dilley respectively. And it was Dilley who picked up the second wicket of the day courtesy of another catch at extra cover by B. Sheridan.

It was Dilley who claimed the third wicket of the day just before drinks when Keith Dolby gloved one through to the ‘keeper. Dilley bowled beautifully throughout his seven over spell, finishing with figures of 7-5-9-2 before he was replaced by Parrett

Cooper replaced JP Aubin Parvu but after two expensive overs, was promptly replaced by Thomas. With the visitor’s middle order leading a valiant offensive, and with boundaries aplenty, wickets were needed. Thomas duly obliged, with a wicked off cutter to clean bowl Hutchison.

Tyagi was continuing to be a thorn in the Ramblas side and looking to accelerate the scoring even further before a brilliant piece of fielding by B. Sheridan saw him run out for 64.

Loughlin took the final wicket of the innings in the penultimate over of the innings thanks to a sharp catch at first slip by Rehan Qureshi. The wicket was Loughlin’s 200th for the club, the first player to reach the landmark.

The Itinerants finished their innings on 211-6, which was perhaps 20-30 runs more than the hosts were hoping for.

As both teams sought to escape the heat and reenergise with another excellent Ramblas tea, thoughts soon turned to the chase. With the required run rate just a shade over six an over, the hosts new that they were still in the contest.

Loughlin and Qureshi opened the batting for the Ramblas, Cooper electing to have two of his biggest hitters up top to score quick runs early doors. The plan looked inspired early doors after Qureshi plundered twelve runs in the second over.

Alas, Loughlin was caught at square leg for 5 in the fourth over and L. Sheridan came in at first drop. L. Sheridan announced his arrival at the crease with successive boundaries as the pair kept the pressure on the Itinerants’ bowlers.

L. Sheridan hit a huge six to take the score to 47 at the end of the seventh over but nicked one through to the keeper the first ball of the next over and was out for 21. The wicket brought B. Sheridan to the crease and he was off the mark second ball with a delightful boundary.

Unfazed by early wickets falling around him, Qureshi smashed three sixes in the ninth over to keep the hosts well above the run rate. The batters both looked in fine touch with Qureshi reaching a well deserved 50 before B. Sheridan was out for 11, dismissed in similar fashion to his older brother.

Qureshi was caught behind shortly after reaching his half century, leaving the Ramblas 94-4 off just 12.2 overs. Matt Rudgyard and Stratford were the next batters in, with the latter hitting a six to take the hosts past the century mark.

As with all Ramblas chases, a wobble is never too far away. And so it transpired with both batters clean bowled in unfortunte circumstances. Rudgyard was bowled after an inside edge that hit his leg and then trickled towards the stumps and knocked off the leg bail. Stratford was dismissed when the ball flicked the side of the off stump to dislodge the bails.

Cooper and Dilley were the new men tasked with the innings rebuild, the former playing the stoic, anchor roll while the latter went on the attack. Dilley hit three sixes down the ground as the pair put on a one sided 37 run partnership before Dilley was bowled for 24.

Cooper departed shortly after to leave the Ramblas 148-8 at the end of the 26th over. With 64 runs still needed off the last nine overs, fans and players alike knew the game was on a knife edge.

Parrett and Aubin-Parvu were the next cabs off the rank and after a promising start from the pair, the next three overs saw just eight runs scored. Six overs remained and the run rate had leaped to over nine and over. But cometh the hour, cometh the man as Parrett struck three boundaries as the Ramblas picked up 17 runs in the 30th over.

The duo scored 16 runs in the next three overs to leave 23 runs required in the last two overs for victory. Some sharp running and two more Parrett boundaries helped the hosts claims 10 runs in the penultimate over.

It was now down to the final over, two wickets in hand and 13 runs needed to take the hosts over the line. Aubin Parvu hit the first ball of the over for a boundary, followed by a quick single into the covers to get Parrett back on strike.

Parrett creamed the ball through the covers for a boundary before scampering for three after hitting the ball to the vacant backward point region.

The scores were now level and the Ramblas needed just one run off two balls, but there was to be one last twist in the tale. Aubin-Parvu on strike, dropped the ball into the leg side and the pair scampered for single but some sharp fielding saw Aubin-Parvu run out.

After discussions with the umpires and players as to who would face the final delivery, it was confirmed that Parrett would be owner of that task. A short pitched ball sat up perfectly for Parrett, who dispatched it to the square leg boundary to seal victory for the Ramblas.

In what was an engrossing back-and-forth contest, the Ramblas emerged with their fourth win of the season and head into the final two games of the season full of confidence.

Ramblas MVP: In what was a complete team performance, this weeks MVPs are JP Aubin-Parvu, Michael Cooper, James Dilley, Mark Loughlin, Geoff Parrett, Rehan Qureshi, Matt Rudgyard, Ben Sheridan, Luke Sheridan, Jake Stratford and Chris Thomas.