Twickenham and SKLP play out entertaining draw on Twickenham Green
Twickenham
284-4 (Colin Blunden 76, Tom Guy 60, Ashley Gray 49no)
SKLP II
234-7 (Harish Kerai 85no, Stuart Amos 3-68)
The sun shone and the runs flowed as
the second strings from Twickenham and SKLP played out a high
scoring draw on Twickenham Green. Colin Blunden, Pete
Richards, Tom Guy, Ashley Gray and Anu Agarwal all made decent
contributions as the Ts’ declared on 284 after their 50 overs.
SKLP never really threatened to chase the total down and
ultimately the visitors, well steered by the impressive Harish
Kerai at three, settled for one point and a losing draw.
May in England can be a funny old time
of year; we go from days that are so cold it makes you seriously
wonder whether this global warming lark is all just a great big
joke, to days that have the sun seekers out in their droves.
Thankfully, Saturday 22nd May was very much in the
latter category. Twickenham Green looked, as ever on days
like this, magnificent, and with a track that looked as flat as
six day old lager it was clear that batting was likely to be more
fun than bowling. Hence, on winning the toss, Ts skipper Dan
Hough had little hesitation in deciding to have a bat first.
Debutant Pete Richards wasted little
time at all in getting the show on the road, two exquisitely timed
fours coming almost immediately. Colin Blunden was, as is
his way, rather more circumspect, but with Twickenham racing
passed 50 in the 9th over all appeared well. SKLP
skipper Muktesh Halai wisely began rotating his bowlers, and it
was the first change Harish Kerai who made the breakthrough.
Richards, who’d looked imperious thus far, somehow contrived to
play round a full toss, departing for 32 in 34 balls, and the Ts
were 60-1.
Tom Guy came in at three and together
with Blunden began setting the platform for a big total.
Both batters struggled to find genuine fluency, but the score
nonetheless moved along passed 100 and, despite a slowing of the
run rate, above 150. All was looking fine and dandy for a
score approaching the 300 mark. Even though Guy struggled to
find his rhythm, his improvisations kept fielders alive; two nice
paddle shots over own his left shoulder brought boundaries, and he
even earned himself the Hairy Hands of Shame thanks to a comedy
incident involving the bowling of Harish. Harish contrived
to loose control of the ball just as he realised it, meaning that
although the ball was still legal it was heading in the direction
of point. Guy, realising that as long as the ball didn’t
actually stop he had the right to hit it, raced out to cover point
to try and whack it to the boundary. So far so comical, but
things got worse for Guy when he all but missed the ball (it moved
about three feet), and quickly had to scamper back into his ground
so as to avoid being run out! All the fun of the fair, end
product – dot ball!
Once Guy and Blunden registered their
respective half centuries, they began to open up. Guy,
however, departed caught behind by Shivlal Patel off the lively
medium pace of Harish (who was in the process of claiming a well
deserved 4-72) for 60 (88 balls), and Blunden soon followed him
for a masterful 76 (96 balls), replete with the usual array of
elegant straight drives.
The Ts’ middle order now had a licence
to thrill, and everyone went out to give the ball a bit of a
whack. Anu Agarwal certainly did that, bludgeoning 42 off
only 26 balls, whilst Ashley Gray hit hard and straight for an
impressive 49no off 38. Richie ‘Roadrunner’ Brewin also
deserves an honourable mention for running like Usain Bolt and yet
having hardly any of the strike. 284-4 was the end product,
as Hough called his batters in after 50 overs.
Angelo’s again did themselves proud
with the array of pastas (one with a nice spicy kick to it),
breads, cakes and fruit on show for tea. Not only was there
lots of it (always good!), but the pasta did just the job on a
warm day. Top stuff, and a clear ‘A’ on the Hendo-tea-o-meter
Even though the track was flat, the
visitors knew that they’d have to bat well to get anywhere near
Twickenham’s imposing total. And with Ashley Gray bowling
with genuine wheels, that total must have seemed even further away
as Shane Halai and Ramnak Halai had their hands full in just
surviving. Gray bowled a bouncer apiece at both batsmen, as
well as a couple of brisk yorkers. Both batters were,
however, running well between the wickets and rising to the
challenge; indeed, Shane Halai was engaging in some lively
discussions with the Ts’ fielders, prompting Gray to do a decent
Harold Larwood impression in coming round the wicket with the aim
of getting the ball right in to his rib cage.
The young opener survived Gray’s
onslaught but, as is often the way, fell to the bowler at the
other end; Athar Khan getting one to bounce a little enabling Dan
Hough to take a simple catch at short leg. Ramnak soon
followed his opening partner back, Khan bowling him for 25,
leaving Harish Kerai and skipper Mukesh Halai to begin shoring
things up. And that they did. Kerai in particular
drove well in the V and looked very competent. He seemed to
have a cool head and when Dan Hough grassed a relatively simple
chance off Stuart Amos it was clear that Kerai had both the
ability and temperament to make the Ts pay.
Amos, to his credit, wheeled away
consistently from the Staines Road End, and ‘The Big Tackle’ could
well have had a plethora of wickets if things had gone his way.
He bowled with plenty of guile, flighting the ball nicely and
prompting both batters in to false shots. He got some reward
when he picked up Mukesh (36) thanks to a decent catch from
Agarwal at point, and when Athar Khan took an even more impressive
catch at backward square leg to remove Prakesh Halai the Ts had
their tails up.
But, time was against the home side.
They needed to start taking wickets quickly. Although SKLP
were now well behind the rate and more intent on getting one point
than having a dash at pinching ten, the Ts only had 15 overs to
get the six wickets they needed. Amos again did his bit,
removing Kabariya leg before for 15, and when the dangerous Akshay
Patel also went leg before – this time to the returning Gray – for
17, the Ts kept themselves in with a chance. However,
wicketkeeper Shivlal Patel joined Harish and both held firm.
Indeed, with the attacking fields that Dan Hough was setting both
moved their scores along nicely. Shivlal did eventually
depart for 24, Anu Agarwal snaring him leg before, but Mayur
Hirani joined Harish (85no) to see SKLP through to the magic 50
over mark.
All in all a draw was probably just
about right. Although the Ts batted really well, they were
always slightly behind the game in terms of wicket-taking.
SKLP never really looked like scoring 285, but they did show
admirable stickability and were decent value for their point.
They were also very decent value in staying behind at TCC for a
few drinks after the game – really nice to see, and a good way to
end the day. Next week the Ts take to the road, taking on
Osterley at