Jack Halstead arrived at Hurlingham with two paid up Ramblers, Ed Oram (who says he is going to pay a subscription) Justin Langen (who ought to), a member of the XXII, one non Rambler Etonian and a guest. However the Rambler scorer brought his kit, persuaded an Old Wykehamist to release his son (leading to the curio that there was an age gap of over 60 years between the oldest and youngest member of the Rambler side) and a Rambler was summoned from the bar to bat, but not to field. So 11 it was.

To great credit all the way round a good game of cricket ensued, mainly because the first three in the batting order (Oram, Weston and guest Hallas) made 197. Jack Halstead weighed in with 41, and Ollie Jones took the Ramblers past 300.in 60 overs.

Unfortunately on this ground with the Hurlingham batting and the Rambler bowling 400 would have been a challenging target. Only Ollie Jones exercised any control at all; Syed Razvi nudged 31 while 150 were added at the other end, and brief knocks by Kennedy, Hopton and Dabby supported Logan’s 101. The fact that Hurlingham made the runs in 45 overs, 93 of them coming off Langen, gave plenty of time for a most excellent party in the Hurlingham garden.

Chris Horne, who topped the Rambler bowling averages in 2017 was not invited to bowl; possibly for the first time ever he did not complain.