out. The ball was cracked towards
Sanchez at backward square, and the bespectacled
rifleman bulleted a throw to
Porter behind the stumps, who gleefully removed the bails to
leave Worth (9) high and dry. A
second wicket came in the following over as Payne
induced a false shot from Frise
and Parab took a decent catch at point to leave the
Avorians on 20-odd for 2.
A sequence of somewhat pungent
wickets was to follow, as the unlucky Phillips was
replaced by Bowman while Marshall
came on for the skipper. Results were immediate as
Arksey (5) skied a ball in
Bowman’s first over to Huntington at mid-wicket. Marshall
was to go one better in his first
over, claiming 2 wickets, through similar top edges
straight to Sanchez and Huntington
respectively. At this point the Ts were well on top
and things got better in Bowman’s
third over as a bit of outswing induced an edge from
Collins which was excellently
taken by Donelan at second slip. A final wicket in this
spell was claimed by Marshall,
with Johnstone missing a low full toss on middle-stump
and falling LBW.
It was at this juncture that the
nature of the Avorians innings changed. At 70-odd for 7,
their number nine, Crawford,
strode to the middle. The Avorians skipper had asked Payne
if the new batter could substitute
for one of their number who was stuck in traffic en
route to the ground. Payne agreed
and ten overs later was lamenting his generosity.
Crawford (a fixture in the middle
order of the Avorians Surrey Championship Premier
league first team) boshed the ball
to all parts of the ground, accruing 76 runs off a far
smaller number of deliveries. He
was particularly brutal on some of the Ts spin bowling,
with Aldworth and Henderson, who
had replaced Bowman and Marshall, getting a decent
amount of tap. It was the off-spin
of Donelan that brought Crawford’s innings to a close,
however. The spectral ungulate had
been patrolling the short tree-lined boundary, grazing
on fresh shoots, when the call
came to bowl, and a straight-one did for Crawford as the
batter attempted a reverse-sweep.
The Ts breathed a collective sigh of relief, but 70-odd
for 7 had become 170 for 8 in the
space of 60 deliveries.
Jackson (36), having played an
intelligent second fiddle to Crawford, then departed
quickly, tickling the returning
Bowman down the leg-side for Porter to claim a fine catch.
The Avorians 10 and 11 batters
then saw the innings through to its close. Collins
accumulated 24 runs and Warr 9, to
leave the Ts chasing 209 to win. After 20 overs this
total had seemed entirely out of
the Avorians’ reach but Crawford’s brutality and smart
batting from the lower order had
entirely changed the balance of the contest.
Tea was mighty fine. A bounteous
selection of cold and hot fare generated a very
satisfied A- on the Hendometer.
The prawns with chilli dipping sauce were particularly
tasty.
It was the experienced opening
pair of Donelan and Sanchez who strode to the middle to
begin the Ts reply. As the skipper
fretted about the tally of number 11 bats in his side (5
was the generous estimate),
Sanchez received a round of applause from the players at
pitch-side merely for arriving at
the crease fully equipped. He proceeded to bat like a
midget possessed. Three flashing
cut shots meant that twelve was taken from Collins’
first over as the Ts chase started
brightly. As ever, Donelan was more circumspect, but he
too began to accumulate runs.
The first wicket was not to fall
until the 19
looked entirely comfortable.
Sanchez had mixed his trademark cuts with some clean
straight hits and Donelan had
picked off singles all around the park. However, the
Avorians’ first change bowler,
Warr, tempted Sanchez into one further attempt to clear
mid off where he was caught for an
excellent knock of 41.
This brought the Saturday 4s
batting hero, Parab, to the middle to join Donelan. Parab
was aggressive from the get-go,
gleefully flicking anything fullish and near his pads over
the top of the fielders in the
ring towards the short boundary and pulling anything short in
the same direction.
The half way point of the innings
brought a drinks break with the score at 88 for one and
the required rate at almost
exactly six an over. A couple of indiscretions in calling runs
aside, Donelan and Parab appeared
to find the task at hand entirely straightforward, and
they progressed serenely towards
the target of 209 at exactly the rate required. Both
registered excellent half
centuries in the 30
for 1.
Donelan was to fall in the very
next over, however, bowled by Jackson for 50, to bring
Huntington to the middle. Parab
and the garrulous North Londoner were left with the task
of scoring 40 runs from the last 8
overs and did this comfortably, with 10 balls to spare.
Parab had played yet another
fantastic innings, finishing unbeaten on 73 while
Huntington accumulated 18 not out.
All in all a fine win for the Ts
against very pleasant opposition and in lovely
surroundings. The standout
Twickenham performers were Parab and Donelan with the
bat, while Bowman and Marshall
each took 3 wickets with the ball. The evening got
better as the Avorians laid on a
supper consisting of barbecued sausages, lamb kebabs
and yet more sandwiches. As the
Hendometer registered a second A- of the day, the Ts
turned for home to fight their way
back to Twickenham Green through the hordes of
middle-aged, half-witted pseudo-prog-rock
fans who had descended on Twickenham for
the day.
