Sunday 1sts cruise to victory in another Twickenham Green run feast

Twickenham                291-4   (J. Liebenberg 104no, D. Campbell 59, M. Freeman 26no)

Capital Wanderers       253-7   (Khalid 54no, Nadeem 51, R. Dancey 3-45, J. Scriven 2-6)

The Sunday firsts enjoyed another fruitful day on the Green, defeating Capital Wanderers by 38 runs.  Although the Essex based side chased gamely, they never looked likely to reel in Twickenham’s imposing 35 over total of 291. 

The Tour de France, a Genesis concert at Twickenham stadium and the Hampton Court Flower Show ensured that the first challenge for the Wanderers side was to actually negotiate a way over to Twickenham Green that didn’t involve spending hours in traffic jams.  Despite leaving well before midday, they failed miserably, only arriving at the Green at around 14h30.  Unperturbed, the skippers opted simply to play a 35 (rather than 40) over game and on winning the toss Dan Hough had little hesitation in batting first.

Openers Ed Paxton and Donald Campbell didn’t waste any time in getting the score moving; 18 came off the first over and 9 off the second.  The day’s tempo had been set.  Shehzad, bowling from the Staines Road End, took the brunt of the early punishment, but he nonetheless claimed the first wicket of the day, bowling Paxton for 14 with the score on 31.  Dan Hough came in at three and also looked to be positive, driving Shehzad through the covers for a couple of boundaries and hitting Malik over his head for four more.  Campbell also manoeuvred the ball around well and at the ten over mark the Ts were handily placed at 66-1.

Yet, as has often been the case on a Sunday this season, Hough managed to get himself out just as he was looking settled, edging a wide, full delivery from Khalid to second slip for 22.  The promising Rob Dancy came in at four and, much like Paxton and Hough before him, played some nice shots before contriving to get himself out, being bowled around his legs for 12.  Jimmy Liebenberg came in at five, and he immediately looked very much at home.  He hit the ball hard and straight and it soon became clear that the Cape Towner was taking a real liking to the Wanderers bowling attack.  The dismissal of Campbell – bowled for a rock solid 59 – didn’t slow the scoring rate as Liebenberg continued hitting boundary after boundary. 

With 10 overs left the Ts found themselves on 174 and 300 looked a real possibility.  Matt Freeman was warming to the task of farming the strike to Liebenberg, and it was not long before the score raced passed 200 and then 250.  As the overs ran out Freeman began to open his arms and play some nice straight drives, whilst Liebenberg cruised up to the 100 mark, registering his first century for the club with three balls of the innings left.  His knock of 104no was a fine display of sensible hitting and a real joy to watch.

Capital began their chase with every intention of at least giving themselves a chance of reaching their improbable target.  Viman and Zaheer took 45 off the first 4 overs, with Viman in particular playing some bombastic cover drives.  The introduction of Justin Scriven not only slowed the run rate down, he also dismissed both openers.  Viman (28) was well caught by Don Campbell behind the stumps, whilst Zaheer (23) was bowled by a ball that just clipped leg.  Scriven’s extra pace and his superb control illustrated (once again) why he has taken well over 200 wickets for the Ts during his time at the club; a true club legend.

Capital’s numbers 3 and 4, Zafar and Nadeem, understandably looked to consolidate, giving the bowlers the chance to get their lines and lengths sorted out.  Phil Biggs, making a welcome Sunday debut, replaced Scriven and niggled away outside the off stump whilst Junnaid Mehmood bowled without much luck from the Staines Road End.  Mehmood’s replacement, Matt Huntington, initially fared little better as a very catchable chance was grassed at square leg but he retained control and was good value for his 0-38 off 7. 

As time ticked on, Capital once again looked to up the ante; Zafar and Nadeem both looked to drive whenever possible, and the score progressed well passed 100 before the Ts enjoyed another breakthrough with Rob Dancey removing Nadeem for 51.  An enforced change of wicketkeeper then took place as Justin Scriven took over from Don Campbell.  Campbell has taken a nasty blow on his right hand and looked in real discomfort; yet Campbell, to his immense credit, took a couple of seconds to pick up some ice from the pavilion and then insisted on carrying on fielding.  They certainly make them out of very strong stuff in South Africa.  And, as is often the way, the ball then proceeded to follow Campbell around – ‘DC’ even taking an excellent catch at long off to dispose of Zafar for 33. 

All of the Wanderers batters proceeded to do their level best to put bat on ball, but run rates of 10 an over, and later on 12 and 14 an over, were always asking too much of them.  Rob Dancey subsequently picked up his third wicket of the innings, Dan Hough catching Naveed in the covers for 9, before Jimmy Liebenberg picked up Butt for 1 thanks to an Ed Paxton catch at point.  Khalid, who had come in at 5, proved that he wasn’t just a decent bowler, he could also whack the ball with the bat if needs be, and one big six into the side of the church on Hampton Road will remain long in the memory.

His efforts were nonetheless in vain as Eddie Paxton brought the innings to a close bowling off spin from the Staines Road End.  All in all Capital gave it their best, but Twickenham proved just a little too strong on the day.  Special mention to the tea ladies for (yet another) excellent spread, as well as Don Campbell for showing everyone what genuine commitment is all about.  Next Sunday sees the Ts back in league action at Staines and Laleham.

Dan Hough