Sunday club eleven versus Englefield Green – 16/09/2007

Twickenham ran out convincing winners on the Green this weekend, beating traditional late season visitors, Englefield Green, in a limited overs contest. Excellent half-centuries from Dan Hough and Holger Kriess allowed the Ts to post a formidable 270 for 6 off their 35 overs and decent spells by Burke, Donelan and Payne meant the visitors could only amass 215 for 9 from their 35.

The day had started slowly with the Englefield Green boys finding the trip from deepest Surrey somewhat time consuming. Thus play started closer to 2pm than the allotted start of 1pm and a 35 over game was agreed upon with the Ts taking first knock. Hough and Walder were first up and proceeded to take the game to the visitors. Hough, in particular, showed uncharacteristic impatience as he boshed some delightful drives and cuts towards First Cross Road. As such, when Walder was out LBW for 8 in over 6, the score had already reached 32. Nitin Parab was next up and he immediately tried to match Hough’s run rate. This pair saw off the opening bowlers with some comfort and seemed to be cruising, bringing up 100 runs scored in the fifteenth over. However, Parab was then to perish, guiding second change bowler Cochrane’s first ball gently into the hands of first slip.

Parab’s demise signalled the entry of the wraith-like ruminant, Andrew Donelan, and he began in his usual style, pushing the ball around for ones and twos. Hough continued to deal in boundaries at the other end, passing the fifty mark amid a flurry of fours. These two built another impressive partnership which was only broken when the Green unleashed their fourth change bowling weapon, Matthew Bendelow. The unshaven dole office frequenter had been loitering on the veranda, lager in hand, when the oppo had arrived with only 10 players. Bendelow jumped at the chance of avoiding having to peruse the situations vacant pages, quickly agreeing to represent the visitors. His first over of cheesy seam bowling did for Hough (84), as the club secretary looked to launch one into First Cross Road and only succeeded in offering a simple chance to the keeper.

Gilbert Sanchez (5) came and went fairly quickly to bring fifth team skipper Holger Kriess to the middle with the score on 166 for 4 in the 25^th over. Kriess made his intentions clear from the start, unleashing some delightful cover drives and big pull shots, and maintaining the already impressive scoring rate. Aside from the slight blemish of running Donelan (36) out, Kriess’ innings was excellent and he saw the Ts through the majority of the 10 remaining overs, reaching a maiden club fifty in the process. He was to hole out with two balls of the innings remaining to leave Matt Huntington (23*) and Pete Burke (0*) there at the close with the score on 270 for 6.

Tea was then taken and much appreciated. The crusty cheese and pickle rolls were a delight as were the slices of Cornish pasty. Kudos to Bony Tendelow for a solid A- effort.

The Ts took the field feeling replenished and in good spirits, knowing that a decent bowling effort would see them home with runs to spare. Burke opened proceedings from the Green Spice End with Huntington starting from the Pavilion End. Burke quickly dropped onto a nice line and length and started to move the ball about while, at the other end, Huntington took a bit of punishment from Green opener Terrington. Burke drew first blood in the 8^th over when, with the score on 30, he cleaned up Dare for 13. His second wicket followed quickly as number 3 bat Oberai was trapped right in front without scoring.

Ten overs in to the Englefield Green reply, skipper Payne decided to change things up, bringing on Henderson to replace Burke and selecting himself to bowl at the other end. The skipper was next to claim a wicket, inducing the dangerous Terrington to loft a straightforward catch to Kriess at mid-off, and leaving the oppo wobbling a bit at 75 for 3 after 16 overs. The amplitude of the wobbles increased as, a few overs later, Payne clean bowled Wojciech for 20 to leave the score at 102 for 4.

Donelan was soon to replace Henderson in the attack, with the rotund botherer of East European skirt having bowled an excellent, but luck-less 7 over spell. Donelan quickly tweaked his way to a wicket, with Ireland lofting a catch to Payne at wide mid-off. This brought the idle turncoat, Bendelow, to the middle to face the pasty-faced savannah dweller and runs began to flow. Bendelow and Parrott found the boundary fairly frequently, being especially harsh on Parab who had been brought on to bowl at the Pavilion End. Their useful partnership came to a nasty end, however, when Parrot crashed a short delivery from Donelan towards the leg-side boundary before treading all over his stumps.

This left the score on 159 for 6 and Englefield Green requiring well over a hundred runs from the last 6 overs. Bendelow tried manfully to make a dent in the runs required, dealing out some punishment to the returning Huntington, but he fell three overs from the end, looping a delivery from Burke to Walder at slip. He had scored a very decent 44.

The remaining overs of the innings saw two more wickets fall, one to Huntington and the second via a run out to leave Englefield Green with a final total of 215 for 9, 55 runs short. Thus a Ts victory was recorded. The cornerstone of the win was Hough’s innings at the top of the order, with support lower down from Kriess and Donelan. Burke, Payne and Donelan all did well with the ball, and mention must also be made of Bendelow’s excellent knock for the oppo.

Next week sees the club eleven’s final fixture of the season, at home to Cypos CC.