The spin twins sparkle as
the Ts cruise to ten more points
Harrow St Mary’s
188 a/o (Pras De Alwis 73, Stuart Amos 6-61)
Twickenham
194-3 (Ben Parer 64, Matt Bendelow
45no, Dan Hough 32)
Stu Amos tweaked and twirled his way to
a season’s best 6-61 as Twickenham continued their promotion push
with a 7 wicket triumph against Harrow St Mary’s on The Green.
Anu Agarwal (2-58 off 17) and Paul Cassidy (2-33) also played
their part, before the Ts’ top order cruised past their target of
188 with 10 overs plus to spare.
Saturday really was ‘Tackle Day’ at
Twickenham CC. Stu Amos bowled his longest spell for many a year
(20.2 overs in all), before taking to the stage as lead singer of
‘The Big Tackle’ as they rocked the pavilion on Saturday night.
The jury is still out as to which of these two performances was
the more outstanding …
Harrow St Mary’s have been on a good
run of late and any side that thrashes Osterley clearly has
something about them. Hence the Ts didn’t take the visit of
Pras De Alwis’s men lightly. However, a look at the HSM side
did reveal that the scrooge of many cricket selection meetings –
the onset of the dreaded summer holiday season – had prompted
plenty of changes to the HSM side. The hosts were also
forced to juggle their starting 11 around; Sati Singh Dhaliwal was
in India (sorting out his visa situation), whilst Pete Richards
was in the first team (and scoring a half century there too; well
done PR!); Ashley Gray was absent bankrupt and destitute in his
student slum in Cardiff, whilst Jawid Dadarkar was away in sunnier
(Mexican) climes. The Ts luckily have plenty of depth to
their squad, so the returns of Benny Parer, Paul Cassidy, Anu
Agarwal and the mercurial Paul Johnson ensured that Twickenham
still went into the game in confident mood.
HSM took first knock on what appeared
to be a runway of a track. And skipper Pras De Alwis and
Charith Gunesekera immediately began to make good progress.
Gunesekera in particular looked to be positive, whacking a decent
length ball from Cassidy miles over mid-on’s head and in to the
trees on the
Agarwal and Amos, as they have done on
a number of occasions this season, bowled excellently together;
Agarwal offering more loop and changes of pace, Amos nagging away
on a decent length. And it wasn’t long before their efforts
began to pay dividends. Gunesekera had looked a million
dollars, but – much as had been the case at HSM earlier in the
season – a rush of blood proved to be his downfall. He
danced down the pitch to Agarwal, missed it, and Richie Brewin
easily removed the bails before he could scramble back. 62-1
became 83-2 when Aussie Ryan Howard cut one straight to Tom Guy at
gulley whilst number 4 Arjun Luthra became Agarwal’s second
victim, bowled for 9.
By this stage the pendulum had begun to
swing very much away from the visitors and back towards
Twickenham. Close catchers crowded around the bat, and all
the HSM batters began to feel the pressure. The only
exception was skipper De Alwis who carried on his merry way as
wickets were falling around him; his fifty was very well deserved.
Amos, meanwhile, was causing De Alwis’s team mates all sorts of
problems, and slowly but surely he worked his way through the
visitors’ middle order. The returning Paul Cassidy also did
his bit, having replaced Agarwal after a marathon 17 over stint,
bowling number 5 Gevindu Liyange and trapping Thusarger Sri leg
before. By the time Hough took his second catch of the day
at mid-wicket HSM had slipped from 110-2 to 188 all out, and Amos
ended up with a richly deserved 6-61 from a fraction over 20 overs.
Whilst 188 was clearly not a total of
Everest-like proportions, the Ts were still well aware that they
needed to do some batting in order to get beyond it. With
both of the previous week’s openers away, Dan Hough and Ben Parer
stepped up to get things underway. And progress was brisk.
Hough whacked over and through the covers whilst Parer timed the
ball nicely all round the park. 42-0 off 7 and the show was
on the road. De Alwis quickly followed the same route as
Twickenham had earlier in the day in pulling his seam bowlers from
the attack and turning to spin. Ryan Howard armed down some
leggies from the Staines Road End whilst the evergreen Ian Ridley
came on from the Hampton Road End. Unlike earlier in the
day, however, the introduction of spin didn’t make too much of an
impact on the scoring rate as Parer in particular made hay whilst
the sun shone; his 50 was very well deserved.
Eventually, however, the breakthrough
did come, with Howard snaring Hough leg before for 32. Tom
Guy came in at three and, as is his way, took his time, ran well
and offered Parer excellent company. Parer looked all the
world as if he we would not only see the Ts home but help himself
to a century. Ian Ridley nonetheless put a stop to any such
thoughts, lulling Parer in to a lazy drive that went straight back
in to Ridley’s waiting grasp. Parer’s departure for 64
brought Matty Bendelow to the crease, and Bendelow immediately
looked perfectly at home. Hours spent on the bowling machine
are paying off for Bendelow Junior, as he authoritatively steered
the Ts to within touching distance of their target. Not even
the departure of Guy (25) could spoil the party, with Garth Borain
finishing the game off with a delightful straight six to leave
Bendelow on 45no at the other end.
In the weeks to come the Ts will no
doubt face tougher challenges, but this was nonetheless a job well
done. With Birkbeck losing to