Saturday 31st July 2010 1s v Shepherds Bush 1s
Twickenham Take Ten at a vital Time. Nunes shows why he is the Daddy.
 
'Red sky in the morning Shepherd's warning, red sky at night Shepherd's delight.'
 
Well it wasn't really the morning or night, more of a late afternoon affair when Twickenham were able to complete a well earned victory against Shepherd's Bush to clinch a crucial 10 points and spoil the Shepherd's delight.
 
I remember when we were due to play Shepherd's Bush at home and due to poor weather conditions the game was called off. Following this I read an article in the Hammersmith and Fulham paper reporting on Shepherd's bush and making note of what a shame it was that the game was called off as Shepherd's Bush were 'almost guaranteed 10 points' against the new comers.
 
However, once again this season Twickenham have gone out and proved why they are doing so well this season.
 
For the first time in about 100 games Carlos Nunes won the toss and elected to bowl first.
 
Twickenham full of vigour and enthusiasm (despite the early suspect weather) went about their business. Paul Cassidy and Maz bowled extremely well in tandem with Casper bowling deadly accurate lines and the Mars Bar bowling with fire and aggression.
 
Casper was rewarded (although on the third attempt) with his first premier league wicket, something that has taken longer than it deservedly should have.
 
Twickenham despite their best efforts of dropped catches (3 in total, a particular beauty between Russell and Maz running into each other both chasing down a skier) were able to keep Shepherds Bush to a respectable 243 of 65.3 over's.
 
Particular mention must go to my buddy Sir Horsington Horsalot Clint McCabe, who bowled a magnificent spell taking 6 well earned wickets and picking up his 2nd 5 wicket haul of the season and was instrumental in keeping the Bush to 243 off 65.3 over's.
 
With the task in hand and a target of 199 for the winning draw and 4 points and 244 for 10 points, Twickenham new what they needed to do. 
 
With a lengthy spell under his belt, Clint was put down the order to give him a chance to recover and having done well previously Peter Richards was asked to assist our fluffy friend bungle at the top.
 
Richards and Meredith batted very well together seeing off the threat of the early swinging ball before Richards was removed for a Collingwood style nuggety 20 (exactly what was required). Nunes and Meredith continued to bat together with ease and looked to be putting Shepherd's Bush to the sword. Meredith however, got a little excited and chipped out to mid - off for a well earned 66.
Nunes and Parker were together a short while before Clint came to the crease. Nunes and McCabe had a straight forward task ahead of them. 20 over's left in the day and 100 hundred runs to get and Nunes needed 45 runs for his hundred.
 
Well the boys set about it. Bringing the winning draw total up with 7 over's to go, leaving them 45 off 7 over's. Clint was able to find the vital boundaries and Nunes began to fire on all cylinders and the mood began to change. The Bush new as hard as it was to accept that the full 10 points were coming back to South West London and that the vital 1 point they would need to help fight survival would not be theirs.
 
Nunes registered the win and his 100 with a fantastic mid-wicket punch for 4!
 
A great game of cricket and a fantastic victory for Twickenham which keeps them in the hunt for a top 3 finish!
 
Good luck to the boys this weekend, with Eastcote at home probably our biggest challenge to date!
 
GUTTED I CAN'T BE WITH YOU!
 
As always your faithful friend, David Russell.