TCC Sunday Club eleven versus St John’s Wood (2007/06/04)

The Sunday club eleven’s dodgy start to the season continued with a 2 wicket defeat to a decent-looking St John’s Wood side on Twickenham Green.  Poor top order batting was the main culprit here, with a lack of runs at the start of the innings leaving the Ts tail and bowling with to much to do.

The day had started well, with skipper Payne winning the toss. After having agreed to a limited overs contest, he (uncontroversially) decided to have a bat in the blazing Twickenham sunshine.

The Ts openers, Donelan and Hough, strode confidently to the middle but were immediately subjected to some excellent line and length from the Wood opening bowlers. Gardener, in particular, bowled beautifully from the Green Spice end, mixing good pace with very decent movement and causing both Twickenham batsmen a bit of bother. Runs were hard to come by and after 9 overs of the allotted 40, the score was a paltry 19. Disaster then struck. Donelan was clean bowled for 4 by the impressive Gardener, bringing Sunday club 11 debutant Don Campbell to the crease. Don was trudging back to the Pavilion one ball later having also had his stumps rattled. Then, in the following over, Hough was bowled round his legs for 11 and 19 for no wicket had become 19 for 3 in the space of 5 deliveries.

Consolidation was now required and it was up to fifth team batter Nitin Parab and Chris Phillips, on his first Twickenham appearance, to provide it. Parab started watchfully, nurdling the ball around for 1s and 2s but Phillips was not to last long – bowled for 2 by Bryant. Wicketkeeper/batsman Sheridan came and went without troubling the scorers, to leave the Ts reeling at 37 for 5. By the 15^th over, St Johns Wood had already got through the Ts specialist batting and exposed a rather lengthy tail.  

However, it was at this point that the Ts fightback began. Huntington partnered Parab for 8 overs before some confusion in the middle saw him run out for 7. Their partnership had, however, contributed a valuable 31 runs. This brought the first of the Ts four number 11 bats to the crease in the shape of skipper Payne. He looked to stick around in support of Parab, who was fast approaching his maiden club 50. With Payne boshing the bad ball and Parab displaying some delightful cut and pull strokes the score began to creep up and when Payne was dismissed for 19 by the returning Gardener, the Ts were at 109 for 7.

The smell of Magners wafting across the Green heralded the arrival at the crease of Chris (Drinker) Marshall. Marshall (1) was soon back at the bar, having also succumbed to the bowling of Gardener. However, during this brief partnership Parab had reached a well-deserved and well-constructed 50.  I suspect that this will not be his last for the club.

Henderson was left to partner Parab through the 6 overs to the close of innings. A further 34 runs were added and the Ts finished up having scored 154 for 8. Such a total had been beyond the realms of possibility at around 2.45pm, but was made possible through Parab’s excellent knock and some doughty support from the Ts tail-end batting.

Tea was taken and was, predictably, excellent. An A- was recorded on the Hendometer.

The St John’s Wood innings began with the Ts knowing that 154 would be very hard to defend on the Green, and getting a win would require tight bowling and sharp fielding. Huntington was invited to open the bowling from the Green Spice end, with Payne supporting him from the Pavilion end. Both bowled pretty well, but with little luck, and after 9 overs the Wood openers had already knocked off 47 runs. First blood was then drawn by Payne, who removed Leggett for 33 thanks a catch at short midwicket from Parab.

Marshall and Chidwick replaced the opening bowlers and their flight and guile immediately began to slow the run rate. Chidwick bowled his usual loopy line and length and, Marshall, when he put it on the cut bit, was proving very hard to get away. Soon, the pressure told, as Marshall snagged a couple of wickets in the same over. A caught and bowled removed the remaining Wood opener, Robson, for 14, and three balls later Blunt was trapped LBW for a duck. When, in Marshall’s following over, Parab took a stunning gully catch to remove Preston (4), Wood were wobbling at 68 for 4. Three overs later, Chidwick got in on the act, doing the Wood number 6 for pace and getting him to play on. 

Twickenham were now right back in the game and, with Marshall flagging, the skipper turned to Henderson to bowl from the Green Spice end. The reward was immediate, as the legger’s first delivery was clubbed to Donelan at midwicket, who took a sharp catch to send Dutton back to the hutch for 8. 68 for 4 had now become 88 for 6 and the Ts scented that they might be able to sneak a win that, until this point, had never seemed feasible.

However, it was not to be. Wood’s 7 and 8 batters, Bryant and the skipper Van den Dorpe, took the game away from the Ts with a 47 run partnership. New boy, Chris Phillips replaced Colin Chidwick at the Pavilion end and picked up 2 late wickets but neither he nor the returning Huntington could provide the final breakthrough. St John’s Wood passed the Ts total in the 33^rd over for the loss of 8 wickets.

All in all, a decent game emerged from what could have been a proper strumping. Credit must go to the St John’s Wood bowling, especially that of Gardener (8 overs, 2 maidens, 4 wickets for 13 runs) and kudos also to Chris Marshall for a very impressive spell of 6 overs, 1 maiden, 3 wickets for 20 runs. However, from a Twickenham perspective, the undoubted star was Nitin Parab who scored an unbeaten 87. The St John’s Wood boys stuck around for a couple of hours and a few drinks were consumed to provide a fitting end to a decent day’s cricket.