Before I pick the bones out of this Middx
Championship encounter,I just want to say how refreshing it is to
play in a game where both sides actually want to PLAY,regardless
of the conditions,and more importantly want to play to WIN aswell!
I must admit though,that at 1.30pm on
saturday,play did look unlikely,as Twickenham Green was hammered
with heavy shower after heavy shower,but after a 'drying
off'period,both sides agreed to start a full 2 hours late at 3.30.
Twickenham had already lost the toss,and were
unsurprisingly asked to bat.
With skipper Alex Storey promoted to the
1's,after his recent good form,stand in captain Paul Johnson sent
out the tried and tested pair of Aly Vokes and Eddie Paxton,and
they both settled in nicely despite the tricky conditions.
Boundaries were pretty much non existant,as the
ball was slowing up in the wet conditions.But needless to say both
batsmen looked fairly comfortable,and it came as somewhat of a
surprise when Paxton feathered a catch behind,down the leg side,to
go for 15.
Willie Vanaswegan joined Vokes,and it's fair to
say found run scoring difficult early on,while Vokes on the other
hand ,started to play some expansive shots,as T's tried to force
the pace and set a competative target.He tried one big shot too
many though,and skied one to mid on off Ridley,to depart for
45.This brought Steve VanNierkerk to the crease for his 2nd XI
league debut,and the burly Natalian carried on where Vokes left
off,hitting the Harrow spinners around The Green,joined in unison
by the now more confident Vanaswegan.
Both players fell on their sword,VanNierkerk for
a hard hitting 33,and Vanaswegan for 29.As did Simon Hawley for
11,as Twickenham strove to reach the 150 mark,that would give them
8 batting points.They achieved this in the 43rd over through some
late lusty blows from last weeks hero Ryan Combrinck,eventually
setting St Mary's 156 to win off 25 overs.
After a tea that felt more like evening
supper,due to the time,the visitors made their intentions clear
that they were going for the win.Openers J Patel and Ruperalia
combined expansive shots with excellent running,and it came as
somewhat of a relief when VanNierkerk held onto a sharp slip catch
off a pacy delivery from Combrinck,to remove the latter.Patel was
joined by Sharma,and they continued the good work,until Paul
Cassidy,who had hit his usual nagging length,trapped Sharma
LBW.This was the start of an amazing spell for Cassidy,as he
ripped through the vistors batting order,doing nothing more than
putting it in the right areas,and forcing the game batsmen to make
mistakes.This they did,by either skying the ball to fielders,who
gratefully accepted the chances,or dancing down the wicket,only to
be stumped by the superb glovework of James Jordan.And when the
lynchpin Patel,went to an amazing legside stumping,Jordans 3rd of
the game,for 44,St Marys finally decided to shut up shop with 8
wickets down,and 4 overs to go.Cassidy was to have the last word
though,trapping Trevedi LBW in his penultamate over.But the
vistors looked to have survived some near misses when Cassidy had
bowled 5 balls of the last over.But on the very last ball,he
induced an edge from Ridleys bat,and Van Nierkerk snaffled the
chance at slip,and send the T's into raptures!
An excellent game of cricket was won off the
last ball ,by 35 runs,with Paul Cassidy the hero finishing with
amazing figures of 8 for 65.
The 2's visit Southall next week,with renewed
confidence of 2 straight wins behind them,and the fact that the
weather has helped them move up to 4th in the table.
