TWICKENHAM 4s vs. NORTH LONDON 4s
Twickenham –260 for 7 after 50 overs (S.Pal
- 110; M.Khan – 41*; N.Tomar – 33)
North London – 261 for 7 after 42 overs
(Higgins – 140; Blythe – 67; S.Pal – 5 for 54)
The Ts 4th string slumped to another disappointing defeat at the hands of North London, losing the game by 3 wickets. It could however been a lot worse, were it not for a very late fight back and an amazing slump by the opposition’s middle order, which gave the Ts some respectability in defeat.
The Ts made a very respectable total of 260 for 7 of their allotment of overs, with Sumit Pal the main run-contributor with a bashful 110 of 105 balls. However, playing on a small ground like this, one always felt it might just not be enough and so it proved to be the case. Along with some poor fielding and a number of dropped catches by Twickenham, North London got to their target with a few balls remaining of their allotted 42 overs.
The Ts made the journey to North London in good time, with the exception of Mo Khan. The skippers went for the toss and Kriess, after calling correctly with tails, elected to have a bat first. And for the first time in 1987 league history (well, since I have been skipper) the game actually started 5 minutes early! It wasn’t long however, before the wickets started tumbling for the Ts. Matt Freeman was well caught at second slip in the first over off the bowling of North London skipper Robbins. Opening partner Tim George followed in the 2nd over, edging a half volley delivery from Minter with a mis-timed drive onto the stumps. A disastrous start with the score on 2 for 2 of 2!
Sumit Pal and Nihal Tomar had the task of just consolidating for the moment and the pair did this well. Both played sensibly, took their time and tried to get their eye in. They kept the scoreboard ticking with good running between the wickets and bad balls being dispatched to the boundary for 4 or 6. Pal in particular hit a number of sixes well over the short square leg boundary and kept true to the Twickenham tradition known as “How many balls can you lose in an innings by hitting sixes” (for those of you that have not read the match report of the Ts 1st XI 20/20 encounter against Wycombe House a couple of weeks ago, please do so in order to make yourself familiar with this tradition. Be entertained when reading about the innings of our 1st XI skipper Carlos Nunes - inventor, perfecto and record holder of this tradition!)
Tomar supported Pal well, battling along with his singles and the odd boundary, but was then bowled by colt Flood in the 28th over facing his 71st delivery with his score on 33 and the overall total on 120. In came the skipper, who hung around for while, looking comfortable and trying to up the run rate. He smashed a quickfire 25 of 23 balls before looping a ball over the extra cover fielder, who somehow managed to run backwards for quite a few paces and brilliantly held on to an overhead catch. Sourav Burman came and went quickly, lashing out and being caught behind for 1. Sam Papworth came to the crease and also cut and drove well from the off. His cuts in particular looked impressive and he found the gaps well, even though skipper Robbins had deployed a very defensive field by then. Pal eventually holed out, rather unluckily being caught by another North London fielding special. Skipper Robbins making a one-handed catch above his head whilst being two feet of the ground look easy.
Mo Khan came in at 8. He who would have batted higher up the order if he had been on time and this could well have made a difference in the total as, once he got going, he blasted his way to 41* of 29 deliveries. Once young Papworth departed 29 off 33 balls caught at mid-off, young Alex Fordham joined Khan to see out the Twickenham innings, ending on 260 for 7.
Tea was taken and North London provided a very scrumptious grub indeed! Starch certainly was the order of the day, with a warm potato bake the main stay at the top inning. This was well supported by veggie rice and veggie pasta dishes, middle order chicken legs, rabbit food and creamy mayo eggs. The tail wagging well providing sweetness in terms of chocolate cakes and a good cuppa! There must certainly be a ploy to this though - how can any side go out a field properly after a tea like that?
North London started their reply with young colts Higgins and Blythe at the top of the order. Sourav Burman, making his long awaited return to TCC colours took to the new ball from the Tennis Court End. Young Majid Abbasi, making his 4th XI bow for the Ts strode in from the other Tennis Court End. Both started nervously but with aggression, the odd delivery either going wide or beating the outside of the bat. Higgins certainly looked potentially threatening from the word go, getting a number of boundaries in particular of Abbasi’s bowling, while Blythe seemed a little less at easy with Burman now finding his rhythm. Abbasi had little success, very much to his frustration, and was replaced by Fordham after 6 overs. Burman continued with a further 3 overs but still did not find the breakthrough. Kriess replaced him and by that time both batsmen looked well settled.
The pair made life difficult for the Ts in the field and very few chances came. And when they, these were unfortunately not taken and proved to be very, very costly indeed. Kriess got an edge of Blythe’s bat, which young Papworth behind the stumps was unable to get a glove to and Higgins was also dropped of Kriess’s bowling by Khan fielding at midwicket. Fordham had little luck himself, Blythe giving not one but two opportunities to fielders on the off. Khadkhad and Tomar both not managed to hold on to the chances. The score moved along rapidly and the Ts skipper started to feel rather despondent. The decision was taken to bring on the spin twins of Freeman and Pal in order to take some pace of the ball, and just maybe it was a decision that the skipper should’ve taken earlier.
Freeman and Pal certainly did manage to contain the now soaring run-rate and the score moved to above the 200 mark without the loss of a wicket. It certainly looked like the Ts were in for a drubbing! However, to the amazement of all, a breakthrough came and middle order collapse followed suit. Blythe, on 67, hit a delivery straight back to Pal who held on to the catch all be it a bit controversially, to send the young opener back to the change rooms. No.3 Lee, the man from the credit expert advertisement, didn’t last very long. His cricket experts didn’t seem to match his credit experts (or maybe his credit was of a poor rating??) and he holed out on 0 swiping at a good length delivery from Pal. The ball hit his bat and top-edged flying over the stumps and a comfortable catch was taken by Freeman fielding at first slip. Suddenly the spirit amongst the 4s was up and they sensed that with 40 odd runs remaining and 10 overs to play, just maybe something can be salvaged from the game – maybe even a bizarre “Liverpool” victory was on the cards!
Freeman, who struggled to find line and length in his first few overs certainly bowled with a lot more thought and aggression putting pressure on both bats to score as the runs dried out. He got into the action with his first wicket of two wickets, bowling No.4 Harris with his tally o 9. A couple of call later he trapped No.5 Norman lbw for 0. North London went for 210 without loss and cruising to 240 for 4 in the space of 5 overs. Flood batting at 6 felt the pressure and tried to get on with things. He double stepped attempting to smash the ball over Pal’s head, however missing completely. Wicketkeeper Papworth did well to collect the ball and cleanly dislodged the bails in the process.
Higgins was looking tired and was approaching a mammoth tally, his century already reached. His tiredness did however prevent him reaching his 150, as he edged a low-keeping delivery behind. The Papworth/Pal combination striking again. No.7 Acum hit two successive 4 of Pal’s bowling to ease the run chase as there were still 10 runs needed for victory with the overs running out. He was then caught quite sublimely by Abbasi at gully, diving to his right to hand Pal his 5th wicket of the day. Could this be an unbelievable turnaround of events which would see North London stumble to defeat after having looked comfortable and cruising to victory? One always needs experience in these kinds of pressure situations. Skipper Robbins, who initially was batting No.10, promoted himself to 9 in order to see things through for the home side. With young Davies they managed to get the remaining runs needed for victory with only a few balls to spare.
In the end a very exciting finish, and a game that was played with an excellent spirit on both fronts throughout. However, the Ts will be left to rue their chances knowing, that had the opening partnership been broken early on and the chances taken, then this could well have been the first victory of the campaign. Take nothing away from North London though, who bowled and fielded very well and had a young pairing at the top of the order that at times, played some exquisite cricket shots.
Next week the 4s will be entertaining Southgate at Broom Road and let’s hope that, with the batting performance very much improved, the Ts can maintain this and put in a bowling performance equivalent, and keep the extra going down as their contribution decreased from 63 down to 30.
See you all next week.
Holger Kriess
4th Team Captain