Acton – 156 all out after 31.2 overs (S.Islam
– 86; T.Sheikh – 8 for 57; A.Donelan – 2 for 31)
Twickenham – 159 for 4 after 44.5 overs (H.Kriess
– 44; M.Freeman – 38; A.Donelan – 30)
Twickenham’s 4th XI pulled off a very convincing, albeit surprising 6 wicket victory against top of the table Acton, thanks in part to debutant Tauffeeq claiming 8 scalps in a blistering display of swing bowling. Tauffeeq helped restrict Acton to 156 all out, leaving the Ts to chase down a smaller total than expected on probably the worst pitch one will ever get to play cricket on. The Ts applied themselves exceptionally well on the batting front, with skipper Kriess (44) leading the way and supported admirably by opener Donelan (30) and young squire Matty Freeman (38).
As is the norm these days for skipper Kriess, Saturday mornings are spent at Heathrow Airport working and therefore someone is always required to rally the troops at the Green and someone else to do the honours of the very important task of coin tossing. In the absence of the every reliable Mr Walker, the rallying of the troops duty went to Mr Donelan and the coin tossing to our very own Mr Karl “The Wilf” Rand – my thanks to both for their support. To add to that, as is the norm these days for skipper Kriess, while juggling work duties for Qatar Airways on a Saturday morning, the time is also partly spent sorting out the sides for the Ts due to drop-outs late on a Friday evening or Saturday morning.
And this past Saturday was no exception, as the legendary cockney club captain Paul Johnson and the Johno cockney column author 5th Team skipper Hinay Dassani can confirm that my 10th and 11th man were only confirmed at 11.30 on Saturday morning. Life can be really hard as skipper sometimes, trying to find replacements is one thing, but trying to please others is a completely different kettle of fish! And as is very often the case, you’ll end up picking a player who will possibly not really get a game or only gets picked because he has a car or can maybe bowl a bit and he ends up getting his Saturday ruined, blaming the skipper of course and not the players that dropped out earlier in the week or late on a Friday or early on a Saturday! POINT MADE ON BEHALF OF THOSE THAT HAD A TFC DAY ON SATURDAY!
Right, back to the cricket! The tossing duties, as mentioned, were done by Mr Rand, who called correctly and as per the skipper’s email to Mr Rand, he elected to have a bowl first. At first this seemed to be a bizarre decision as, much to the disgust of Mr Rand and Mr Freeman, not only was the skipper not there yet, he also had the 11th man Mr Hussain in the car with him. And so the Ts took to the field with 9 men! But the decision to bowl first was vindicated thanks to the actions of Tauffeeq. The debutant struck early doors removing the stumps of opposition skipper Arvin. No 3 Read soon followed - also bowled. No 4 Kashmiri could only add a further 8 to the total before succumbing to Tauffeeq – guess what, also bowled!
And so, by that time Hussain and Kriess had trodded onto the field and skipper Kriess took over the reins from Mr Rand. No 5. Islam came to the crease and together with No.2 Ravikumar they steadied a seemingly sinking ship for Acton. Islam made his intentions very clear, whacking anything on the leg side towards the boundary. Ravikumar was more cautious, he however held his end and rotated the strike well. Both Kulkarni and George struggled with the ball and skipper Kriess quickly decided to throw the ball to lanky Donelan in the hope of stemming the flow of runs.
And Donelan did not disappoint. He bowled accurately with a tidy length and getting the ball to turn, albeit with the help of the pitch on some of those deliveries. The run flow started to slow and with this pressure came the 4th wicket. Opener Ravi succumbing with his tally on 26 – yes guessed it, bowled Tauffeeq. And this is where the collapse really began. Donelan to his first wickets with the No. 7 Umer being caught by Aldworth. Tauffeeq continued, bowling No.8 Dale and trapping No.9 Waj LBW in consecutive balls. The hat-trick however, was unfortunately not achieved.
Islam eventually succumbed to Tauffeeq with his tally on 86, lashing at on outside off and scooping it high up in the air. Keeper Wilf scampered across in real quick time from behind the stumps to take the catch between gully and point area. That was scalp No. 8 for Tauffeeq, and as the skipper kindly pointed out: “Not bad for a 4th XI debut!” No.11 Nick fell with the score on 156, when the Donelan-Aldworth combination wrapped things up for the Ts.
The Ts were in good spirits coming off the field and rightly so and while Tea was enjoyed with all sorts of array of goodies – no sandwiches though and it was all wrapped up in 2 plastic tesco bags – skipper Kriess was contemplating his order for what should be a relatively comfortable chase. But as we all know this game of cricket is certainly not predictable.
The Ts however, opened up with the predictable pairing of Donelan/Hussain, which has stood them in decent stead so far throughout the season. Both followed instructions and took their time, however runs were not easy to come by. Both openers for Acton, captain Arvin and Aktar were very tidy and gave little away. Plus the unpredictable bounce made things even harder. And this could be seen by the runs scored. The Ts had accumulated 13 runs without loss in 10 overs, until Hussain missed one playing cross bat, the ball not really bouncing as it should and his middle stump was sent tumbling.
While awaiting his turn to bat, skipper Kriess had a leisurely chat with scorer Ben Aldworth about the dropping out of players this week. Upon the mention of the name Kruger, Mr Rand came up with the bright comment of: “Just imagine if Kruger and Rand would be out in the middle having a bat – it would be the golden partnership!”
Skipper Kriess came to the middle to join Donelan, who by now had perfected the front foot drive. Kriess was very much welcomed to the game, his second ball from Aktar bouncing rather awkwardly upwards and hitting the skipper right on the jaw! After collecting his thoughts, Kriess felt brave and declined a helmet, however he sooned changed his mind seeing how unpredictable this bounce is. Donelan and Kriess really steadied things and grinded it as if their life depended upon it. Kriess was again hit on the arm and then on the visor as the pitch carried out its most dirty tricks.
Eventually things fell better for Kriess, who managed to dispatch a couple of half-volleys to the boundary – one of those going for maximum – and started to get the run rate picking up. Donelan was happy to play anchorman while Kriess hit boundaries to all corners of the ground. With the score moving on steadily the Acton skipper brought himself back on, to try and break the partnership. And this he achieved. Skipper Kriess was deceived by the bounce of the ball, played and missed, the ball hit the pads of the wicketkeeper and rebounded back onto the stumps with Kriess out of his crease, gone for 44 with the score on 75 off 26 overs.
Matt Freeman stepped up and he and Donelan carried on rotating the strike and keeping the scoreboard moving. The pitch by now was really deteriorating and most scoring shots were played of the front foot as it was just too risky to play on the back foot. To the delight of Kriess, there didn’t seem to be a collapse of last week and slowly the Ts moved closer to the winning total. Donelan eventually departed for 30 (in 35 overs!) while Freeman added 38 before seeing his off-stump tumble. Young Oli George stroked well, scoring an undefeated 27 and when Gilly “the Mexican” Sanchez walloped the ball through the gap with his now trademark cut shot to the boundary for 4, the chase was completed and with it a first in chasing a total to win on this most horrible of grounds! It was also Acton’s first defeat of the season and that made victory ever so sweet!
Well done to all and hopefully this winning spirit can carry on and the Ts can go marching up the table in Division 2. Next up is North London at home and this will most certainly be an interesting game if the first one is anything to go by.
C’mon on the Ts!!
Holger Kriess
4th Team Skipper