Victories, balls and farewells

Balls.

That’s what Surrey showed today. Big, massive ones at that! In a metaphorical sense, you understand. Displaying the non-metaphorical ones in public can result in arrest. Just ask any streaker worth his salt.

I don’t know if there was something in the Rosebowl air today, or whether Surrey were high on the back of their heady win over Scotland yesterday. I don’t know if maybe Deirdre, fresh from having her ashes scattered at the Oval today decided to look down at the teams from on high and have a laugh. Whatever the truth, today’s humdinger of a match just about caused me a peptic ulcer! Something decidedly odd seemed afoot almost from the word go.

I mean, Hants are chock full of decent players. And one by one – and at regular intervals – they dropped like ninepins! I’m not one for casting aspersions on the boys abilities and certainly Surrey are a more than reasonable team, but if you’d asked me if they’d have Hants all out for 141 in 30 overs I’d have probably spat my cup of tea out at your face in disbelief! How long have the doom merchants, naysayers and long-suffering “I can remember when we were invincible” brigade been hankering after a display like that?

It did seem a little too good to be true, to be honest. I’m afraid, with all due respect to our wonderful bowlers, I had suspicions something was up with the pitch. And when Hants began their response in the same manner as Surrey had, with wickets tumbling all over the shop, I felt all the more certain that the Rosebowl was misbehaving unexpectedly. Not in a naughty “call the ECB inspectors” way, I hasten to add. It just didn’t seem to be going the way either team had anticipated. By all accounts it should have been a marvellous batting track, and yet the ball dominated the bat in an almost obscene manner.

Take the Hants innings for example. The top score made by a batsman on their team was a slightly incongruous 34 from Dawson. The next highest score was 21 from McKenzie! With other scores ranging from a first ball duck for Corky to a couple of 15s for Pothas and Howell, things were looking mighty ominous for the home side. 4 wickets fell to a rather imperious Dernbach, with two for Arafat, two for Linley and one apiece for Schofield and Spriegel. I’m pretty sure even the most faithful of Hants supporters would have considered going home at the half way break!

If they did then they would soon have been regretting missing out on one heck of an exciting game. The skipper followed up his single run in the last game with, you guessed it, a single run in this one. I said RHB would have his day – and he will – but it seemingly wasn’t meant to be today. And when Davies, with the score still on 1, followed his captain back up the steps Dominic Cork must have been scenting blood! Worse followed when the experienced de Bruyn was out for 5 with the score on a measly 24, and when Maynard was dismissed for 14 (and then Wilson next ball for a duck) it looked as if another calamitous collapse was on the cards!

Thank heavens then for Jason Roy! I have the feeling (and indeed hope fervently) I may be saying that a lot in future years. He, ably assisted by Spriegel, was the main difference between winning and losing today. Yes, it was a long and protracted journey towards that 142 total that put me slightly in mind of my new treadmill: a lot of huffing and puffing but getting nowhere fast. But riding his luck once again and staying in to make 76 before being bowled was the main factor that Surrey now finds themselves near the top – if not at the top – of their CB40 group. Schofield came in and smashed the last couple of runs required to take them over the line, and although Roy wasn’t there at the end I’m sure he will reflected well upon his performance.

Credit to Spriegel for sticking with him to the end and playing such a pivotal role. His 29 not out was the third highest score in the entire game! And much credit to RHB for his constant mixing up of the bowlers; chopping and changing so that the opposition couldn’t settle at all. He showed a great deal of nous, and certainly in the shorter game he seems very tactically aware. The changes in bowlers he made today, and the times he made those changes, seemed almost inspired.

And so, with a second win under their belts the Surrey Lions can look forward to their next championship game against Leicestershire on Wednesday. Surrey seems to have a reasonable record against them, I think. At least a certain M.R.Ramprakash does. Will he be in the squad? What position will he play if he is? I had heard some ugly rumours about him possibly opening...but that does seem like wasting your best asset. Would you drive your Rolls Royce in a cross-country rally? Openers are there to take the sting out the new ball. Exposing your best player to it straight away seems like sheer lunacy to me, although given the number of times in the past that Ramps has had to come in early with the first wicket down I suppose he may as well open...

Back to the Oval. I mentioned earlier that our very own Deirdre’s ashes scattering took place today. By all accounts it was a very moving experience, even if she did turn up late to her own ceremony! The Rampants who made it to the Oval extend their thanks to the groundsman who both met their party and allowed them on to the pitch. Final word, I think, should go to one of our founding members, Fiona, who expressed the following sentiments on the scattering of Dee’s ashes:

“Gosh it was so very moving - her little patch of grass on the Oval pitch where she will now always be... Oh, and Dee, don't think we don't realise that it was you who ordered that great big gust of wind that took you floating up all over the members area!! Good girl! And her being late was SO Elizabeth Taylor. It was a very lovely day.”

God speed, lovely Dee! xxx

Here we go again!

So, here we are. The first championship game of the year is hurtling towards us like...a giant hurtling thing. I’ve been quite bursting with anticipation (not a pretty sight at the best of times) over the last few weeks for the start of the county championship, even although it feels pretty odd that Mr R won’t be fit to take to the field for some time yet. As a Surrey fan I am interested to see how the team do in his absence. As a Ramps fan it’s just a little weird...a bit like Destiny’s Child without Beyoncé.

That was a strange analogy! Anyhow, you know what I mean.

Surrey have already gone through their pre-season warm ups, and I think we have to accept that this is exactly what they are and basically not panic before the main event. It was lovely to see Michael Brown return, and equally magnificent to hear that Chris Jordan is back and bowling (not to mention taking wickets) for the team. I do think that Surrey need the maestro back as soon as possible, however, looking at the rather Ramprakash-sized gap in the middle order scores. People like Ramps – and let’s be honest, Dominic Cork, Robert Croft and Marcus Trescothick – are more than just run scorers or wicket takers. They are lucky charms and bring not only years of experience with them but have that bit of magic about them: the aura that belongs to the battle scarred veterans who cheat time, and hold the seasons at bay.

Surrey will be missing their chief lion for the first part of the season, but it needn’t all be doom and gloom. The show must go on, and fingers crossed by the time everyone is fit and firing Surrey will be winning games once again.

Best of luck, lads!

Memory Lane

I couldn't help but notice that Mark Church was asking for our memories of the first Surrey game we attended, and that got me casting my mind back to 2007 when the first RAGM (Rampant Annual General Meeting) took place. It was the first time I was able to put faces to a lot of the names that I had come to know during the hinderend of 2006. It was a double challenge for me, in that my agoraphobic tendancies usually stopped me from going anywhere as far as London, but it was something I felt strongly that I had to attempt. And so, with a lot of help from friends, it came to pass that on the last day of the last championship match that year, I attended my first ever game of cricket! It started a rather irritating trend of my travelling down on the train to London on the day that Mr Ramprakash scored a ton! To this day I still haven't seen a Ramps century!

Anyhow, I've dug out my notes from that day and editted them down, just so that I can record them here for posterity.


I arrived at the Oval at about 09.30, mostly because everyone else was meeting up the station and I hadn't a clue what was being arranged. Better to get there early and wait. It was not such a bad idea: I got there in time to see the traditional pre-match football kick-about between the Surrey boys. Yep, there was Ramps and Butch…Newman falling over. Batty running to retrieve the ball from the other side of the ground. Alan Butcher striding imperiously amidst his players. A look up at the sky revealed a few clouds but there was a vague warmth to the day, so it looked as if we might get away without the predicted rain causing too many problems.

I took a picture of the famous gasometer - just to prove that I was there. I still couldn't believe it.

A brief mention then of the situation from a cricket point of view. It was day four of four, and Surrey had spent the last three days tonking Lancashire all over the pitch, which was good if like me you were a Surrey supporter. If you weren't and you wanted Lancs to win the title (which they could possibly have done if they'd manage to pull off a miracle bigger than Craig Revel Horwood declaring Quentin Wilson the world's greatest dancer) then you'd have been casting an eye towards the Sussex match to see what was happening there. Sussex had looked like they were going to win their game, which would have put them above Durham. Then the world's attention would the assuredly turn to the Oval, because if Lancs won the game they would have been victorious outright county champions for the first time in 76 years. If Surrey beat Lancs then Sussex would be the champs.

Whilst I agreed that it would be nice for Lancs to win after such a long gap it seemed to me that Sussex had probably played better and won more games than Lancs overall, so the result should in fairness have gone to the best team that year. Besides, I had come to see Surrey win a game, and with that in mind resolutely decided to applaud every single catch from the home team, and stifle the impulse to laugh childishly every time a Lancs batsman was dismissed. If Lancs were good enough to chase down the massive target set largely by Ramps then they deserved to win, and so be it.

The Rampant hordes descended upon the Oval shortly after, to wreak their own special brand of havoc, armed with munchies and copious amounts of gin! We chose our spot, and with the game already underway seated ourselves spread out over two rows not far from the front of one of the stands. Moments after, Jean decided to wear her gin and tonic rather than drink it, captured for posterity by the camera of yours truly! Fiona promptly started passing around the gin, asking politely if anyone else would care to indulge themselves. Now, I'm as near to tea-total as you can get: the first and last time I had gin was about ten years ago. On that occasion I couldn't walk down the path to the car without staggering (as well for everyone that I don’t drive)! Still, I thought, what the heck and took Fi up on her offer, and proceeded to knock back a huge mouthful of neat gin much to the amusement of all who witnessed it!

So there we were, chattering and laughing, listening to Churchy and applauding the action where appropriate. The grounds weren't exactly packed. I have to admit that I thought there would be more people there for the dénouement at the Oval given how much was at stake. There weren't too many Surrey fans as far as I could tell, but a reasonable smattering of Lancs fans started to filter in as the day went on. They seemed to bring the good weather with them, as they began to shed clothes quicker than a stripogram after a night out on the town. Especially noticeable was the loud guy in the stand who kept standing up shouting "Oh, Lanky Lanky" to the tune of the hokey kokey. It got a bit annoying after the third time or so…and by the fiftieth time there were definite 'herpes vibes' winging their way towards him. I believe I may have threatened to kill him at one point. But as I'm usually such a sweet natured girl I can only attribute this to the gin.

Surrey didn't play badly at all, but Lancs clearly had their tails up and slowly, inexorably, the total began to creep downwards. Wickets would fall but so irregularly that the Lancs fans must have began to get their hopes up. As the day went on the Oval began to get a little fuller: with Lancs fans. The faithful and those who had suddenly found a renewed belief that Mark Ramprakash was not the slayer of dreams began to trickle into the grounds until the numbers in the stands began to swell. And Mr. Annoying was still there with his rallying call of "Oh, Lanky Lanky." Hmm…why didn't I send laryngitis vibes instead of herpes?

At some stage that morning we managed to lose Jean. I say lose but in truth she managed to lose us because we hadn't gone anywhere, and as the minutes ticked away we wondered if she'd somehow managed to get stuck in the ladies. Fearing something sinister had befallen Jean we kept darting looks towards the exit she had left from, only to see a rather hesitant man armed with a carrier bag coming down the steps towards us. I thought his indecisive behaviour a trifle odd but then guessed he was just looking for the best spot to sit.

Which it seemed happened to be right next to us!

Pause. "Excuse me, but are you the Rampants?" He asked us, sounding terribly hopeful.

I think we must have looked collectively shifty. I mean, it's not the sort of thing somebody tends to ask. Immediately I thought Surrey CC had decided to evict us for taking over the airwaves of BBC London with our poems and anagrams. One of us found our voice and squeaked out a cautious “yes”.

"That's a relief," said the man, "I'm Trev. Trevor Jones." He added by way of clarification.

Suddenly the collective shiftiness altered to delight and Trev was welcomed amidst the ranks, seating himself on the edge of the row next to Nic. Now, this man knows just about everything there is to know about cricket, and Surrey in particular. An author, former librarian and commentator for Surrey, Trev's inside knowledge about what had been going on in the team, added to his own witty opinions which were readily given, made interesting hearing. I don't think I've ever been so star-struck by a librarian before!

Trev seems a seriously nice man. He chatted and watched the game with us for some time, and eventually Jean finally reappeared down the steps clearly wondering who the strange man was sitting at the end of the row. Her expression on being told that it was THE Trevor Jones was priceless, and I think she was just about ready to adopt him!

Whilst Jean had been fraternising with someone whilst trying to snag some drink, Trev was kindly signing copies of his books for us. Bless the man: he had a never-ending supply! Trev mentioned that there were several OAP Lancs fans up on the balcony that looked like they had been around the last time their team had managed to win the championship, and probably - should Surrey win the game - might not last to see the dream come alive again. OK - I nearly wavered in my devotion to Surrey at that point, I admit it, but only because I didn't want to see scores of octogenarians throwing themselves off the balcony in some strange Lancastrian lemming-style suicide pact! But no…I hardened my heart to such thoughts and contented myself with sending the herpes vibes again to the noisy barsteward in the Peter May stand.

Trev disappeared shortly before lunch, I think, if I remember correctly - and promised to come back later on to watch some of the game with us. At this point texts were flying about the place between Rampants who were unable to attend the match, saying that we hadn't been spotted yet in Sky's coverage - and where were we sitting? Later on we got one from Ceci saying that she had seen us, and who was that bloke we were with, which made us laugh.

True to his word Trev returned later on in the afternoon with the game looking to swing towards Lancashire's way. Laxman was going so well that you couldn't help but feel as long as he was there the game was slipping out of Surrey's grasp. I began to get a little narked at the idea. Part of me thought Lancs deserved to win for doing so well on the last day, but to be honest when a side so dominates for three days of play, to see Surrey's (and in particular Ramps) efforts come to nothing would have been gutting for me. That was why when Laxman went having scored his 100, caught by a certain Mr. Ramprakash no less, I allowed myself a slightly childish air punch! There was a strangulated squeal of indignation a row back from Fiona (who despite her admiration for Ramps as a cricketer also doubles as a Lancashire supporter), exclaiming loudly "Damn you Ramprakash! That's it: I'm an ex-Rampant!" Thankfully, Mr R couldn't hear the threat of resignation as he was fielding just about as far away from us as he could possibly get!

It was slightly before this point four Lancs fans appeared from nowhere and, with empty seats to choose from all over the Oval, decided to sit right in front of myself and Jean! One of their number proceeded to spend the next forty or so minutes explaining the rules of cricket to his little girls. "You see, that was one run there when the batsmen ran between the wickets…" God, it could have been me half a year ago, feeling as thick as a brick.

Laxman's catch was one of two for Ramps as it turned out. Another of our other Surrey favourites Jon Batty was putting in his usual hard work and taking wickets regularly. The only question was, had they come quickly enough? The dismissal of Laxman however seemed to be the turning point in the game and some of the fire, although not the determination, had disappeared from the northern side. As they began to reach the tail of the team a feeling of slow dread crept over me. Dominic Cork was in and making progress in steady, menacing fashion.

I should at this point make some mention of the delightful 'Number 29' who entertained us for so much of the latter part of the game. This was the ever-grinning Murtaza Hussain, recruited by Surrey as a stand-in for Harbhajan Singh (who was off beating the world in the Indian 20/20 squad). Hussain was fielding in front of us quite a lot towards the end, armed with a grin like Alice's Cheshire cat! I think he - and probably the entire Surrey team - had a very good idea who we were at this point. Each time he went near the grin was switched on like a light bulb! He waved, he posed - he even wiped pretend sweat from his brow in theatrical fashion when he claimed the penultimate wicket! In the meantime Corky was still hanging around like an irritating fungal infection...

Trev disappeared at this point, leaving us to watch the game tick away. The Lancs supporters were counting the required runs down on their fingers. I was quite calm because as soon as the penultimate man had gone I felt confident the remaining batsman would likewise fall before the runs evaporated. I'm not basically a horrible person who takes delight in the misfortunes of others but - just ever so briefly - when the last wicket (Cork) fell with roughly 26 runs left to chase, rather than thinking of the poor old codgers up on the roof I took a little satisfaction in the reaction of Mr Lanky-Lanky in the stand who, as the song goes, wasn't singing anymore!

All that remained at that point was to loiter in the car park in the vain hope of spotting Ramps and his fellows. What we got instead was the rather sad sight of the heartbroken Lancs fans trailing out of the Oval. One or two - clearly the worse for drink and heartily disgruntled to boot - hung around in the car park area with the aim of harassing the umpires: not exactly the best way of rounding off the county season. Back on the field Ramps was being named man of the match, not surprisingly, and giving the obligatory interview with Sky, so it became quite clear that our chances of nabbing a quick conversation with the man himself were slight indeed. Every so often a dejected and miserable looking Lancs player would make his heavy-hearted way past us out towards the coach. Yeah, okay…I was sorry for them at this stage.

The light was beginning to fade as we posed for a group picture, and by the time we were spotted by the lovely Nicole Cutler (supporting Jon Batty presumably) and dance partner Matthew it was almost totally dark. They posed for pictures, chatted…I even managed to swallow my shyness and say a few words to Nicole! We managed to pounce on poor Churchy as he slunk by with his mobile phone, or rather Nicole did. He kindly stopped for a moment to talk as Nicole and Matt said goodbye, asking whom Nicole had been drawn as a partner in Strictly. "John Barnes," replied one of the Rampants.

"She'll not win then." Churchy deadpanned. "His knee will have fallen off after the first week…"

Churchy, like so many people I know, hates having his photo taken. This was a pity as we intended to snap away regardless, so the poor man caught sight of a half-dressed James Benning hiding his white legging-clad thighs behind the shirt he'd just got from his car, and pulled him into the photo! Benning to his credit didn't seem remotely perturbed. Neither did Jade Dernbach earlier when he'd stopped by, but considering JD had been nominated by Jon Batty as the vainest member of the Surrey team this hardly seems surprising! Churchy needlessly apologised for not being able to come down and speak to us, but it would have been an interesting trick if he could have done it considering he was broadcasting at the time!

We let Churchy go, and then shortly afterwards were asked to move on by a female security person, which was fair enough as we had been lurking for some time in the dark. Even afterwards we loitered out on the street for a while to share out the stash of Trev's books amongst us and deciding where everyone was going to head off to. It was hugs all round and many goodbyes: the first of many, as it transpired. The Rampants have met up several times since and hopefully will for years to come.

But for a first ever cricket match; the 2007 September Surrey v Lancs CC game will take a heck of a lot of beating!

I've got to stop this prediction malarky...

I'm getting altogether too good at it. Dominic Cork was voted off Dancing on Ice, and whilst better skaters are still in, I have to say that the vast majority of them are z-list snoozefests. I'd hardly heard of any of them, and the ones I have heard of (with the exception of the modest and lovely Johnson Beharry) I wish I hadn't.

Anyhow, hard luck Dom. You weren't the best, but you have more class than some I could mention!

Times; they are a' changing

So, it would be safe to say that the pre-season team re-jigging has well and truly begun! We have already:

Released Usman Afzaal

Presumably lost Andre Nel

Gained Kevin Pietersen permanently

Gained Zander de Bruyn

Gained Tom Maynard

Gained Yasir Arafat

Signed up Rory Burns, Zafar Ansari, Tom Lancefield and Tom Jewell from the lower ranks.

Actually, if you have all of the team (or at least most of it) firing at once you are in danger of having a cohesive little unit for what seems like the first time in an age. You have a wealth of youngsters who the skipper knows very well, you have older heads like de Bruyn (who I shall hitherto refer to as Zander because I’m struggling with typing his surname in repeatedly) and Ramps (when/if fit) and the occasional appearance of Pietersen. From a Surrey point of view it’s a real shame to lose Tremlett to England although understandable - and well deserved – but I do think that the signing of Arafat has been a canny one, especially as he will be available all season. Of course, most of the Rampants were very pleased by the fact Yasir’s rather easy on the eye as well, but that of course didn’t come into my line of thinking at all.

I’m guessing Liz is shaking her head at me now. Hehehehehe...

Tom Maynard’s an interesting acquisition. He had a lot to prove and left his beloved Glamorgan in unfortunate circumstances, but he certainly has the ability to be a very destructive batsman and I could see him making a mark in the one day games in particular. The young Surrey lads are all potential stars waiting in the wings to make an impression, much as Jason Roy has already done.

The loss of Andre Nel is a difficult one to quantify. Perhaps he hasn’t done as much with the ball on those flat, beautiful Oval wickets as you would hope, yet there’s just something about Andre that made him a box office draw. That wonderful stand with Dernbach last year will stick in my memory for many years to come. As for Afzaal, I wish him well at Derbyshire. I’ll miss him running over to Ramps every time he took a wicket with an improbably slow ball, and hearing how Mr R kept running out the way!

We have new sponsors. Brit Insurance have gone after a solid amount of years supporting the team, which means unfortunately my Surrey drinking mug is out of date! Does this mean I have to buy a new one or do I just pretend that nothing’s changed, as the ignorant so-and-sos at work won’t know any different (except perhaps Ian, who strikes me as the sort of person who would know that kind of thing)? Kia is now the official sponsor at the Oval. I keep wanting to say ‘IKEA’ but that of course is another kettle of flat pack self-assembly furniture...

And last but certainly not least, Bill Gordon is no longer head groundsman, although he is still there in an assistant/advisory capacity. If the new fella that’s come in has understudied Bill he will no doubt be very successful (and I want to point out again that I was not the Rampant who made reference to Scott Patterson being extremely ‘fit’). I mean, honestly! Also, a big thanks to whomever it was who agreed that we could have Deirdre’s ashes scattered at the Oval. I’m sure the idea would have tickled her, and it will give every future trip to Kennington a certain poignancy.

Whilst players come and players go, Dominic Cork continues to wobble and weave his magic on the ice every Sunday night (although for how long remains to be seen). I don’t think he’s going to win Dancing on Ice. I’m not even sure he’s going to be there next week, but fair play to him for having a go at what is an extremely tough sport.

You should’ve done Strictly, Corky!

Why cricket will always need wise old heads

I got distracted by You Tube last night, and by the time I remembered I should be writing up some kind of report my eyes had given up and the little grey cells had started to shut down. However, better late than never!

Actually, I have to say it’s been a very disjointed season for me and it’s difficult to be accurate sometimes with what I report, as I have a tendency to only hear the last third of a day’s play if it’s on a week day. I can’t listen back to them anymore, so basically I have to rely on my impressions from the other Rampants. That said, I think I may have been amused had I been able to listen in to Surrey’s declaration bowling yesterday morning. It may have been a couple of years since Ramps last turned his arm towards a wicket, and young Harinath even took a turn!

Leicestershire eventually declared on 123-0, and with Surrey forfeiting their second innings there was something there for both sides to go for. I think a lot of credit must go to both teams for setting up the final day’s play the way they did: so often these matches will simply peter into a dull draw where there is little to play for other than to add runs or wickets to personal tallies.

As it turned out a draw did end up as the final result, but there was nothing dull about it! I suppose Leicestershire had the most to lose – and gain – from the result, as they still had an outside chance of sneaking up the table into the second promotion spot, whereas Surrey are trying to scrape themselves off the second from bottom spot. The draw didn’t assist either team but will have basically killed of any hopes Leicestershire had in what has proven to be a dramatic and angst filled season off the pitch.

Still, it wasn’t for lack of effort and gumption on the home side’s part. Smith went lbw for 23 to Cheetham, Boyce made 44 before being bowled by Batty, but the killer partnership from a Surrey point of view was the stand between Du Toit, whose magnificent 122 runs took away any likely chance of a Surrey victory, and the equally brilliant 106 by Paul Nixon. When both men were finally dismissed, and with Taylor going for a first ball duck, there seemed an outside chance of getting the required wickets for a win. New made 2 runs, White 7 and Henderson 3, but it was too late at that point and with Leicestershire finishing 338-8 Surrey will be left wondering ‘if only’. Had Du Toit and Nixon been dismissed earlier in the day then perhaps things would have gone Surrey’s way, but it was not to be.

I have to say I rather like Nixon as a player. I believe he and Du Toit are out of contract at the end of this year: I hope they manage to find new teams.

With so many players moving at the end of the season, due to personal/financial/geographical reasons, it appears to be open season in terms of speculation. Pietersen will need to find a new county. Sidebottom is moving on. Amjad Khan too. Apparently, every one of them is coming to Surrey. At this rate Geoff Boycott’s late granny will be moving to Surrey! Heck, Michael Vaughan’s daughter’s tortoise will be joining Surrey!

So, as the season winds down towards its climax and with less than a month left until the end perhaps it is interesting to note that whilst there are some new young bucks on the scene, like Adam Lyth for Yorkshire, the wise old sages are still doing it for their teams. Dominic Cork, who I never really cared for to start with but who has grown on me somewhat over the past seasons, has had a fantastic season with Hampshire. Ali Brown looks likely to be in the County championship winning side in Nottinghamshire, and has contributed vital runs when required. And of course Ramps continues to score copiously for Surrey. How long these three gentlemen may continue is open for debate, but if they have the hunger and desire to play then hopefully we may see them next year for their respective counties.

You can’t manufacture experience when all is said and done.