Sati shines as Twickenham ease to another 10 points

MTSSC II                   164 a/o (I. Dilshan 54, Satwinder Singh Dhaliwal 6-56)

Twickenham II            168-2   (Satwinder Singh Dhaliwal 73, Tom Guy 38no)

Satwinder Dhaliwal was the star of the show as Twickenham cruised to ten points against MTSSC on Twickenham Green.  Dhaliwal bowled delightfully to register 6-56 off a fraction under 20 overs, whilst Anu Agarwal again wheeled away effectively for 2-39 off 16.  Dhaliwal cemented his claim for the game’s MVP with a quickfire 73 at the top of the order as the hosts cruised to victory with 15 overs to spare.

With the race for the title coming nicely to the boil, the Ts knew that nothing short of 10 points would suffice to keep the pressure up on Osterley.  Although the Ts had beaten MTSSC convincingly 9 weeks previously, the visitors certainly had the potential to be a real banana skin.  MTSSC tend to live or die by the sword (their top order is not exactly made up of Geoffrey Boycott or Chris Tavare clones), and in the opening bat, Dilshan, they certainly had someone who was going to play shots right from the off.  He hit the ball cleanly and with plenty of gusto, and the visitors were soon 50-0 off 10.  Poor old Ryan Combrinck, who has become a strong candidate for the unluckiest bowler in club cricket, once again seemed to have upset the catching gods, as a chance went down at second slip, but that aside MTSSC’s start was in truth relatively trouble-free.

As in previous weeks, Twickenham took the pace off the ball and slowly but surely things began to turn round.  Sati Dhaliwal came on from the Staines Road End whilst Anu Agarwal wheeled away from the Hampton Road End.  And between them they not only throttled the run rate, they also started to do damage to the wickets column.  Dhaliwal was the first to strike, removing Sriraman (12) thanks to a nicely taken catch by Garth Borain, before Dilshan finally succumbed (52), caught by ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (Agarwal) at point.  Agarwal himself joined the party by dismissing Joganathan (17) – courtesy of a smartly taken slip catch by Ben Parer – as the MTSSC innings began to wobble. 

Indeed, wickets fell at regular intervals, with Parer taking two more catches at first slip, Steve Watts pouching his first catch of the season at mid wicket and Tom Guy taking a smart one in the covers.  By the time Agarwal and Dhaliwal had finished, MTSSC had struggled gamely to 164 in 50.3 overs, with the final wicket falling thanks to a smartly executed run out by the very impressive Dhaliwal. 

The tea was a crescendo of awesomeness, as Shuiying Lin offered up the final one of her exquisite feasts for the season (she will be in China come the final day clash with Birkbeck).  And this despite the fact that the Ts guest tea lady was seen cavorting outside with cricket pads, gloves and a bat for 15 minutes shortly before the MTSSC innings reached its conclusion.  With messrs Sibley and Brennan teaching her the key points of the umpiring code (the rumour that rule 1 is “always make sure you shoo people away from the scoreboard” remains unsubstantiated), she was certainly getting the type of tourist experience that not many other Chinese visitors will ever have had.

Once tea was consumed, the Ts were quickly in to their stride.  164 is rarely an Everest-like target on Twickenham Green and Benny Parer and Sati Dhaliwal took little time in showing their positive intent.  Dhaliwal was not scared to use his feet to the medium pacers and although he did swing and miss a few times, he also played a plethora of delectable shots.  His drives were particularly pleasing on the eye, and he was also not averse to bashing length balls over mid-wicket.  Parer had much less of the strike, and with only 13 overs being bowled in the first hour of the Twickenham innings it must have felt like he was having to start again more or less every time he took guard.  Parer’s 25 (37 balls) was nonetheless well crafted and at 64-1 the Ts were set fair.

Tom Guy ensured that the runs kept coming, thanks mainly to some sprightly running between the wickets and some delicate glances down to third man.  Quite why captains are so reluctant to fill that particular gap is beyond this particular writer, but there you go.  Whilst Guy did the nudging and nurdling, Dhaliwal continued to make hay at the other end.  He passed 50 in 69 balls and looked set fair for his maiden Twickenham hundred until he chipped a ball straight back to Jeyanathan and was dismissed for 73 (89 balls). 

The Twickenham talisman, Garth Borain, came in at four and, following a couple of low scores in previous weeks, immediately looked to book in for bed and breakfast.  Borain was not scared to play his normal exuberant drives, but he made sure he got right to the pitch and that the shots were low risk.  The total subsequently eased up and beyond 150 and it was no surprise that both Guy (38 in 50 balls) and Borain (19 in 24 balls) were still at the crease as the Ts breezed past the visitors’ total.

The Ts made pretty short work of a team that has more than enough ability to cause a surprise or two.  And with just one point separating Twickenham and Osterley, it is clearly all to play for over the last two weeks of the season.  Next week sees Twickenham journey over to North London for one of the most popular fixtures of the season; 12h30 start chaps, remember …