It was a case of another one that got away, as another late fightback couldn’t prevent the Ramblas from falling to defeat against Hildenborough.

A steady start with the ball from the Ramblas faded a little as the hosts managed to reach a score of 190/3 with a big second half to their innings. Stop me, oh, stop me. Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before…

In truth, it was an improvement on recent weeks, with Kieran Gibbons and Chris Thomas miserly (yet wicketless) in the opening overs, before James Dilley made the breakthrough courtesy of a sharp catch at slip by Thomas. Geoff Parrett and Duane Hall each snaffled a wicket, but some big hitting and missed lines from the bowlers meant there was a sense the Ramblas let things get out of hand to leave them with a trickier-than-it-needed-to-be target to chase.

As has often been the case, things started well between Seth Clifford and Jonny Stocks, before their 63-run partnership came to an abrupt end, with the latter adjudged to be run out. Some dithering from the umpire (who was definitely paying attention…) and some unnecessary crowding/pressuring of said umpire saw Stocks storm off and take out his frustrations on the dressing room.

In the blink of an eye, an on-par 63/1 as drinks approached became 67/4, which in turn became 102/9 as Thomas finally got a bat for his 100th innings for the club.

Alas, while there were to be no fireworks to match the recent exploits of the Butcher-Hall or Ghube-Loughlin partnerships, with Gibbons the main aggressor, there was the merest sniff of a chance of something special as the last five overs approached.

That sniff was quickly extinguished as the required run rate became too great, as Gibbons agonisingly ended on 49*, with the final partnership of 68 taking the Ramblas close, but not close enough.

Ramblas MVP: He started and ended the match for the Ramblas, bowling economically to keep the hosts in check and then top-scoring in the run-chase. Yes, it’s Kieran Gibbons.