Ts make it two league wins out of two in entertaining encounter at Chertsey

Twickenham    212-9   (J-P Stewart 43, A. Storey 39, G. Hughes 31, S. Eagles 4-44)

Chertsey          138 a/o (P. Mackrell 83, J-P Stewart 5-19, M. Ryan 2-33)

Twickenham made it two victories out of two in their 2008 Thameside League campaign, overcoming Chertsey by 74 runs at Grove Road.  Decent contributions through the top and middle order helped the Ts post a competitive 212 on a lively Chertsey track.  Once the hosts’ Tasmanian opener Pat Mackrell had been dismissed for a well crafted 83, Twickenham cruised home with plenty to spare.

For one so seasoned in leading intrepid cricketers into battle, Dan Hough displayed surprising naivety in arranging his Sunday XI for their encounter at Chertsey.  Players with decent batting skills are generally seen as a plus, as are ones who can propel the leather ball 22 yards with a modicum of control.  Players who can drive (and, more importantly have a car!) are, however, absolute gold dust and are subsequently the first names on any Sunday team sheet.  Hence Hough’s schoolboy error of picking a team with only two drivers was no doubt a grave mistake indeed.  Thankfully, ‘Mr Twickenham’ Paul Johnson – passing through the pavilion for a quick jar on his way to Richmond to watch Middlesex play 20:20 cricket – lent a hand, generously piling three players into his car to save the day. 

Hough’s day of bad-decision making didn’t end there.  His second mistake came in calling incorrectly at the toss (more work needed on the coin theory there it would appear then.  A summit meeting with Twickenham’s other key thinker in this department, Annabel Rand, is planned for the coming weekend).  Thankfully, Chertsey skipper Steve Eagles had read the script and asked Twickenham to bat. 

The track looked decidedly green and anything around 150 was likely to be a decent target.  So, it was with some trepidation that Nick Burgess and Mark Ryan went out to the middle.  Both nonetheless played with good control, waiting for the bad ball to dispatch to the boundary.  Burgess, in particular, pulled with vigour and he was excellent value for his 24 (35 balls).  His presence through the rest of June and July will undoubtedly be missed.  Ryan too perished for 24 (47 balls), leg spinner Eagles picking up his second wicket of the day. 

The Sky TV duo of James Jordan and Al Storey came in at three and four, and, again, they both looked in little trouble.  Jordan drove with panache and Storey knocked the ball nicely into the gaps.  Good running between the wickets and the Ts’ innings was beginning to gather momentum.  Jordan’s (16) unlucky departure to something of a camera catch by Ogle at mid off brought J-P Stewart to the crease and the big Brisbanite helped the score pass 100 in the 26^th over. 

Stewart took a while to get going, but once in he rotated the strike nicely.  When Storey departed (39 in 45 balls) and Grant Hughes entered the fray the scoring rate unsurprisingly went up a further notch.  Hughes stood back and whacked a short ball over extra cover for six, before registering another maximum straight down the ground.  In fact, he only dealt in sixes, his cameo innings of 31 (24 balls) containing three maximums and no fours. 

By now the Ts were batting against the clock and wickets were beginning to tumble.  Stewart departed for 43, LBW to the returning opening bowler (Ogle), whilst Matt Bendelow and Dan Hough perished to Danny Peeroo in the run chase.  Lachlan McKenna also came and went quickly, leaving the reliable fourth team skipper, Karl Rand, to strike the final ball of the Ts’ innings nicely behind square leg for four.  212-9 didn’t sound like an Everest-esque score, but Twickenham were reasonably happy with their afternoon’s work thus far.

The tea – once we’d worked out where it was (the answer being tucked away in a far-flung fridge) – was a pleasurable affair.  The pate and French bread went down well, as did the ham.  After initial worries about quantity (which proved largely unfounded) and tea of the liquid sort (was there to be any – yes being the eventual answer), consensus settled around a very solid B grade.  Good stuff.

Chertsey opened up with the two Tasmanian Mackrell brothers.  The right-handed Pat looked compact and well-organised.  John, meanwhile, was a little less orthodox and it wasn’t long before he was dancing down the track to plonk Lachlan McKenna over long on for six.  When he nearly ran his brother out (by about four yards) it became clear that Mackrell (J) was someone to keep an eye on.  McKenna, bowling to three slips and two gulleys, soon found his line and length and it wasn’t long, however, before the opener snicked one behind and into James Jordan’s gloves for 10. 

Pat Mackrell, meanwhile, looked very assured.  He pulled with venom and was quick on to anything overpitched.  As his partners came and went – Wiggins well caught by Rand at first slip for 6 (quite why the batsman had a strop and claimed he wasn’t out was something of a mystery) and then Powlesland bowled by J-P Stewart for 11 – he increasingly took the initiative.  Grant Hughes’s leg spin came in for some particularly harsh treatment, six going over long off and two more boundaries going through the mid-wicket area.  As he passed 50 it became clear that he was the man the Ts would need to remove if they wanted to win the game. 

The revolving door at the other end didn’t make his task any easier.  Ford (at five) was bowled by Ryan – after having been hit in the chest by the same bowler in his previous over – for 7, whilst Frith departed for a duck.  The same fate befell Kiss, batting at seven, although not without a touch of slapstick comedy.  J-P Stewart and keeper James Jordan went up for a leg before shout and whilst the umpire was deliberating Lachlan McKenna pounced on the loose ball at cover point, fizzing the ball at the stumps at the non-strikers end.  The Chertsey umpire, no doubt lost in concentration over whether to uphold the appeal, kept focused firmly on the batsman – until McKenna pinned him right in the mid-riff with his throw.  Almost as if prompted by an instinctive trigger-reaction the umpire first bent forward, then reared back lifting his finger to signal that Kiss was, indeed, out leg before.  The site of Karl Rand collapsing (in hysterics) at first slip will remain long in the memory.

With a rather bewildered Kiss departing, Danny Peeroo came in at eight.  By now, J-P Stewart was working up a nice head of steam.  His short run-up didn’t stop him generating a bit of pace and the increasingly irregular bounce made him quite a handful.  With Ryan chipping away at the other end – his dismissal of Peeroo prompting the second unseemly Chertsey strop of the day – it became (ever more) clear that Pat Mackrell would need to score the vast majority of his side’s runs if they were to win.  Stewart, however, put an end to such thoughts, bowling the impressive opening bat for a very well-made 83.

By now, the Chertsey innings was sinking like the Titanic.  Skipper Eagles tried to give Stewart at bit of a whack only to be bowled without scoring, leaving the last two batsmen – Loveridge and Ogle – the almost impossible task of scoring 75 to win.  With Ryan (2-33 off 9) and Stewart (5-18 off 8) now enjoying well-earned rests, Rand came on at the top end (“I’ll come on when that Aussie’s out if that’s ok Dan!”) and duly mopped up the innings, trapping Loveridge leg before for 4.

Twickenham are in cup action next Sunday when the firsts go to near neighbours Richmond for a County Cup clash.  The seconds travel to Egham to play a Thameside League game.