An international XI made the short trip from Twickenham to enjoy their date with Birkbeck college, with three South Africans an Aussie, no Kiwis and the odd pommie. Granite lined the driveway to a lush, green Birkbeck pitch with offered little in regards pace in either the wicket or the outfield - as tends to be the case when the soil in lime based. Stand in skipper, Paul Johnson took hold of the reigns as Alex Storey continued to look under the weather turn several shades of orange throughout the day and Johnson won the toss, choosing to bat first.

T's openers, Paxton and the melon shaped Vokes made slow inroads with the new cherry beating the bat on many occasions as the opening pear stood firm against an impressive opening spell by Birkbeck, Ali being the pick with 4 straight maidens from the off. Following an impressive combination of stroke play and power shots, Vokes was the first of many players to regret playing back to a short ball that skidded through to clip the bails and was dismissed for 25. The quince looking Storey crawled to the wicket but could offer little resistance to either his sickness or the tidy line of Ali and was bowled for 1 after playing an ugly looking shot, shortly before Paxton also departed, plum LBW. Enter Jimmy Leibenberg and Paul Johnson with the score at 63 for 3.

Displaying shots all around the park the Twickenham middle order stroke players played with passion, talent and determination with Leibenberg taking charge, Johnson happy to play gooseberry and find singles when required. Johnson was eventually dismissed for 27 while Leibenberg successfully negotiated his was passed 50 as the T's looked to hit 175 in time to reach their bonus points. Dave Green's wicket left the T's 4 runs short with 1 nut to go as Combrinck headed to the wicket. Combrink struck he first ball as sweetly as a test batsman on 100 towards the cover boundary like an excercet missile - unfortunately for the T's, there was a man out on the cover boundary and only 1 run was scored.

In the closing stages Leibenberg was bowled for an impressive 70 while Combrinck was left undefeated on a quickfire 29. From a total of 55 overs, Twickenham amassed a healthy looking 212 - 7.

Having relied on a Trippett's Blackberry for updates on the FA cup final, a very pleasant tea with salad was consumed in from of the TV - just not enough fruit for my liking though at least the food was not ruined with loads of tomatoes.

T's opted to take the old ball with the wicket and outfield continuing to offer little assistance to pace and it wasn't long before the first breakthrough was made by the opening bowlers Cassidy and Perry. Cassidy's niggling line and length bowling proving too much for Ayub who was bowled for 5 with the score in single figures. With runs hard to find from Perry's end, the Birkbeck batsmen looked to target Cassidy and this worked for the T's as Leibenberg was presented with an easy catch at square leg to dismiss the dangerous looking Ali. Just a few balls later the Cassidy/Leibenberg combination worked again, this time opener Ali succumbing to an excellent diving catch from Leibenberg, an inch from the turf. With the score at 56 - 3, T's were well on top when Huisain entered the game, batting in a Kepel Dev style from ball one as if a thousand currants of electric was running through his body. It couldn't last and although the boundary was constantly found, the running between the wickets was schoolboy at best and Huissain was run out by a direct hit from Green with the score now 73 - 4.

Birkbeck were in serious need of a partnership and it came in the form of Haider and Butt. Still the running between the wickets was poor but Twickenham fielded like lemons, unable to stop the runs. Desperate for a breakthrough Combrinck and Leibenberg were handed the ball. Though they both bowled well, the Birkbeck batsmen, particularly Haider weathered the storm, ran hard, hit hard and found the boundary with a disturbing regularity. Though Butt was eventually bowled for 41 from a peach of a delivery by Leibenberg, Ullah and Haider saw Birkbeck home with a couple of overs to spare leaving Twickenham wondering how and where they had lost the game.

Though disappointing in the field, there were some worthy performances. Cassidy finished the pick of the bowlers with figs of 47 - 3 from 12 while Perry could consider himself unfortunate not to pick up a wicket, ending with 53 - 0 from 14 while both Leibenberg and Combrinck batted well.