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Close but no cigar; T’s settle for
winning draw on Middlesex County League debut
Saturday 12th May was a
momentous day in the long and distinguished 174 history of
Twickenham Cricket Club. After finally clamouring out of the
Middlesex Championship in 2006, the T’s began their inaugural season
in the Middlesex County League with the first of a number of long
treks around the North Circular to play Barnet Bs. The depressing
weather did its best to scupper proceedings completely, but stand-in
skipper Justin Scriven and the ever reliable Warwick Paull ensured
that Twickenham had much the better of a drawn encounter and
returned to south-west London with 4 points compared to Barnet’s
one.
Barnet Bs were also stepping into
a new era following the close season merger of their two predecessor
clubs – Barnet, who finished bottom of Division Three last season,
and Barclays, who did little better, finishing just one place above
them. The game therefore represented the first step into the
unknown for both sides. On winning the toss Barnet unsurprisingly
opted to bowl; and this they did for precisely three overs before
the rain started to come down. Given that the Bs don’t possess any
covers (!), the track was well and truly exposed to the elements and
there was a real fear that the game might be over before it had
begun. Thankfully, after just under an hour the rain relented and
the umpires – who both had excellent games – quickly decided that
there was little merit in hanging around hoping the ground would dry
out. It was play now or don’t play at all. Come 2.45 pm the teams
were therefore back out in what was by now an 87 over game.
Initially it was the Bs who made
the brighter start. Both Twickenham openers were dismissed cheaply;
Pete Carey (4) was bowled by a deceptive inswinger from Peter Blair
and Andy Barnes (4) succumbed to a similar delivery from the other
opener, Butt. 9-2 off 7 overs was not part of the Twickenham plan.
Warwick Paull, batting at three, set out his stall to stop the rot.
Despite the slow pitch, Paull drove the ball well and looked assured
in all he did. Carlos Nunes, batting at four, decided – as is his
way – that attack was the best form of defence, and between them
they gave the innings genuine momentum. Nunes was particularly
brutal on Butt, pummelling his medium pace for 17 in one over,
including one outrageous six over cover.
Although their partnership of 51 –
Nunes was dismissed by the wily Jamaican, Blair, for 35 off 28 balls
– was not a match-winning one, it did change the face of the game.
The T’s continued to steadily work the ball into the gaps, running
hard and putting the Bs under considerable pressure in the field.
Pressure that they didn’t cope with particularly well, as the number
of fielding slips began to tot up. Justin Scriven, batting at 5,
curbed his naturally aggressive instincts, playing maturely for 41
(off 69 balls). His speed between the wickets nevertheless turned a
significant number of 1s into 2s and 2s into 3s, as the T’s score
moved smoothly past the 100 mark. His dismissal – following a stand
of 88 with Paull – saw the T’s ‘Mr Cricket’ take the initiative.
Paull played some exquisite drives – no mean feat on a slow, wet
track – and surged past the 50 (78 balls) mark. Mark Ryan and Ben
Parer offered him good support as the T’s accelerated towards a 44
over declaration. Scriven eventually called his troops in with the
T’s on 212-6 and Paul a well-deserved 100no (113 balls).
Tea was remarkably unnoteworthy
aside from the infatuation of one of the Bs ‘supporters’ with
Twickenham’s one travelling fan (and webmaster) James ‘Les’
Richards. After introducing himself to Richards with the comment of
“blimey, you’re a bit of a salad dodger” the somewhat inebriated
Barnet follower soon decided that although he kept forgetting his
name, ‘Les’ was in fact a top guy. Watching Richards attempt to
avoid not only the conversation, but also the close physical
attention, of this particular drunken oik was nonetheless decidedly
amusing for all the onlooking T’s players.
Thankfully, attention soon moved
back to more important matters and the Barnet’s innings. Given that
13 overs had been lost to the weather, the T’s realised that making
early inroads in the Bs’ battling line up was going to be the only
way to secure a victory and 10 points. Things started reasonably
well, with Kemp being removed by Paull, caught by Nunes in the
covers, for 3. The number 3, Dampier, looked capable of hanging
around, but he became Scriven’s first victim of the campaign, bowled
for 11. The T’s had their tails up. However, the Bs were not going
to lie down easily, and opener Rajapakse (batting with a runner) and
number 4 Ayub steadied the ship. Rajapakse mixed obdurate defence
with some decidedly violent drives, mastering the art of skying the
ball over the infield but short of the boundary fielders, generally
picking up two runs in the process. Eventually, however, his luck
ran out as Scriven claimed his second wicket, trapping the plucky
opener leg before for 33.
It was at this point that the T’s
really needed to stamp their authority on the game. To some extent,
this they did as Barnet fell well behind the run rate and gave up
any hope of chasing the target down. But Ayub and the number 5,
Abbas, were proving obstinate customers. Ayub – after surviving a
very close LBW shout first ball – was producing an eclectic mix of
hearty swots to leg and lunging defensive prods, gradually steering
his team towards the safety of a losing draw. In the knowledge that
the overs were running out, Scriven tried his best to mix the
bowling up; Carey threw up a few of his leggies, whilst Cronje tried
to tempt Ayub into one heave too many; Nunes managed to get a little
extra bounce from the wet surface but never really found his rhythm,
and Nicolaides probed away with his induckers to no avail.
It was left to the skipper himself
to break the impasse, Carey taking a fine catch at mid wicket to
remove Abbas for 46. As the batsmen had crossed, Ayub faced the
next ball – which he tried to blast into outer space, only to be
caught – by virtue of a full length dive on the long leg boundary –
by an ever-energetic Warwick Paull. It was a super catch, and it
gave the T’s real hope that they might indeed be able to remove the
remaining 5 batters. The double breakthrough had, however, come too
late and despite Scriven claiming his 5th wicket of the
afternoon (finishing with 5-32 off 16), Barnet closed on 162-6, with
Twickenham taking more points from a drawn encounter.
Although the T’s were naturally
disappointed not to win the game outright, a winning draw is still
not a bad debut in a higher league. Sterner challenges will follow,
but there is every reason to believe that Twickenham are well tooled
up to meet them. The bombastic stroke play of Nunes, the cool run
accumulation skills of Paull and the all round ability of Scriven
all stood out and if the T’s play with the same commitment and sense
of purpose every week, then they are likely to win many more games
than they lose.
Dan Hough |
