BOUYANT King’s Road pulled off a stunning win against all odds thanks to a supreme knock by big-hitting Tom Barnes.

The powerhouse hit 70 not out in a one-man show against the London Itinerants – despite his teammates falling like dominos around him.

In an otherwise shambolic batting performance, The Road’s last eight batsmen scored a pitiful four runs off the bat between them.

After the third wicket, the scorecard read a depressing: 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0.

And at one point the boys from Battersea were teetering on the edge of oblivion at 50 for 7.

But the tumbling wickets didn’t include Man of the Match Tom, who – scoring a third of his side’s total – almost single-handedly steered the Orange Caps to 112.

Despite Tom’s heroics, the score seemed dangerously low – but it was something to defend and just enough to make life difficult for the Itinerants.

And, when The Road’s feared pace attack came on to bowl, they got stuck in right from the off to rip through the Itinerants’ batting line-up.

Pace ace James Couldrey – picking up where he left off in the first match – hit the bullseye second ball to trap Dillon Marambe plumb lbw.

And magicman Adam Majeed finished it off with two stunning balls that bowled Paul Seddon and Lee “The Don” Don in style.

It sealed an incredible turnaround for The Road from being complete down-and-outs as their batting line-up collapsed – again – to runaway winners in a game where they were dead and buried.

The match – reduced to 35 overs because of the weather – began in grey, overcast conditions at Barnes Common with light drizzle and a threat of rain to come.

King’s Road skip Matt Cocken won the toss and sent his side – missing Tom B and newboy John Smalley who turned up late – out to bat.

Openers Giles Fagan and Leon Watson found it tough going early on in the soggy conditions as Ravi Ogale and Itinerants skip Ben Tanner were right on-the-money.

Leon and club chairman Giles made slow progress until Giles, trying to up the run-rate, blasted one to mid on off Ogale and was caught by Simon Harrington.

With Tom in at the other end, Leon – having scored a patient 13 – then hit another one up to Harrington off the same bowler and The Road had lost both openers by the eighth over.

The wobble then just got worse and worse as the King’s Road scorecard started to resemble a binary code.

Wickets tumbled, as Andrew Saker was caught and bowled, then newboy John Smalley, Tom Parnell, burly skip Matt Cocken and Simon Biffen all had their stumps knocked down.

King’s Road contributed to their own demise, but the damp conditions, accurate bowling and sharp fielding played a big part.

Matt was bowled around his legs as he shuffled across the crease and Biff took a big swing second ball but missed.

Former skip Raju Mazumder, bless him, fell victim to the slow bowling of Don who trapped him lbw for 1. But what an lbw.

The most comical dismissal – and early contender for Most Embarrassing Moment of the Year – was definitely Raj’s.

Beaten by the flight, Raj swished through his shot what seemed like an age before the ball finally arrived.

When it did, the bewildered tinkerman made a desperate lunge with his foot and tried to kick it away – right in front of the sticks.

Umpire Leon had no option but to give him the finger.

After that Adam followed soon after run out in a close decision following a mix-up in the middle. Things were going from bad to worse.

The Road were on 73 for 9 and facing a thrashing. What was important now was passing 100 – but even that looked unlikely.

Heads didn’t drop though and when James C came out to bat the tide began to turn.

With Tom farming the strike, James’s teammates held their breath hoping he could survive long enough to get them past 100.

And James did just enough blocking out 8 balls to take The Road into the final over while Tom knocked the runs needed.

James was bowled with the score on 112 leaving Tom not out on 70 off 92 balls having scored 10 fours.

For the Itinerants the nagging Ogale returned remarkable figures of 2 for 4 off 5 and Seddon got an equally impressive 4 – all bowled – for 13.

Click here to see the match scorecard

From then on in after the well-organised Itinerants went out to bat it was all King’s Road as the bowlers put on an inspired display.

James took the first wicket with the second ball of the innings and then, with the score on 31, he got wickie Manmeet Birdi caught at slip by Gilo for 19.

With two down it was still too early for The Road to get excited, but after that wickets fell with alarming regularity for the Itinerants.

James got Harvey Bowman lbw then spinner John S took his first for The Road having Daniel Dodman caught by Adam.

Biff then bowled S Harrington and two runs later John S bowled Ogale, one of the only Itinerants to offer any resistance, for 25 to pick up his second.

By now the Itinerants were rocking dangerously on 7 for 71 and the match was getting very tight.

One good shot, a bad one, a miss field or a belting ball could tip the balance either way.

The Itinerants still had two of their best batsman waiting to come out though and the job for The Road was far from done.

With every run crucial, Neil Davis helped add 18 with captain Tanner before being bowled at the end of Matt’s second over.

Now The Road were favourites – and while the Itinerants had two good batsmen left Road skip also had another rabbit up his sleeve.

Firey Adam still had two overs left to bowl and with his team sharp in the field for once Matt’s team were putting real pressure on.

Despite that the Itinerants were still confident of victory. Regular opener Seddon stepped out to win it for the Itinerants and captain Ben was looking calm and assured at the other end.

But then disaster struck as Seddon was blasted out by on-form pace ace Adam. He had lasted just four balls.

The Itinerants, founder members of the London Premier League, were left with last man Lee Don as their only hope. And with swing king Adam in that mood he stood no chance.

Don lasted just two balls as the Itinerants were sensationally bowled out for a paltry 90.

It capped a famous win for a spirited side, the first for Matt as captain and the first since August 31 last year against the South West Herts XI.

Tom was the obvious hero keeping the Orange Caps in it and setting up a score to defend. After that the bowlers – particularly James and Adam – went out and delivered when it mattered.

James finished with 3 for 25 off 7 taking his season’s tally to 6 in two games. Adam got another haul of 3 for 8 off 7. John S got a 2 for 12 off 6 promising overs.

In the field The Road were sharper than ever, cutting out the miss fields, missed catches, sloppy extras and catastrophic mix-ups that have marred almost every match they’ve played.

Overall, the fightback – if not the batting performance – was very encouraging and bodes well for The Road’s next match against the Durham Occasionals on Sunday.

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