TWICKENHAM 4s vs. TEDDINGTON 4S
Twickenham – 223 for 8 after 50 overs (C.Ubale
– 78; P.Walker – 69)
Teddington – 225 for 8 after 39.4 overs (P.Singh
– 64*; S.Burman – 5 for 76; R.Payne – 3 for 66)
The 4th XI made the very short trip across to Bushy Park to take on Teddington’s 4th string on a beautiful warm sunny day in the capital. It certainly was derby day as Twickenham’s 1st XI also looked to conjure up victory against Teddington’s 1st string.
Having lost the toss on a number of occasions already this season, skipper Kriess called successful this time round (no coin theory - just plain luck!). The thought of having to bowl first was not one he wanted to entertain hence the choice to bat first was greeted with a smile by his team. Teddington skipper David on the other hand did receive some stick from his troops for losing the toss.
The decision to bat though seemed to backfire on the Ts as Teddington’s opening bowling pair of Khan and Singh made life very difficult indeed. Both bowled tidely and with good pace, Khan swinging the ball away and Singh bringing the ball in. Papworth and Donelan, Twickenham’s batting pair struggled and the pressure clearly told when Donelan attempted a quick single only to find himself run out due to a brilliant direct hit. Papworth edged behind to 2nd slip of the bowling of Khan, but he too can find himself to be unlucky as it was a very well taken catch that any cricketer would be proud of.
And so the score stood at 10 for 2 of 10 overs with skipper Kriess and Syed Hussain trying to consolidate. Both were unsuccessful, as first Kriess was trapped LBW for 9 (he was not impressed!!) and then Syed Hussain was bowled by Singh with his score on 6. This left the Ts in desperate trouble on 26 for 4 after 14 overs. Up stepped Phil Walker and the very late comer “who does not know where Bushy Park is” Ubale. Walker and Ubale really showed grit and stuck around and for long period slowly kept the scoreboard ticketing. Survival was the main aim and once both had played themselves in they did start to push things. Ubale in particular opened up his shoulders and started finding the gaps and the boundary more regular. Walker however soon followed the example and the running between the wickets was excellent. Singles were turned into two’s and two’s turned into three’s with the aim of putting the fielder under pressure. And in this heat it clearly looked to work as Teddington started to tire out. The pair eventually put on a partnership of a 154 for the 5th wicket with Ubale(76) the first to depart having scored his 4th XI maiden half century in the process. Walker(69) soon followed but Matt Freeman carried on his swinging of the bat from the previous week scoring a quick fire 15* of 7 balls and helping the Ts end their innings on 223 for 8 after 50 their allotted 50 overs. Kriess would have certainly taken that if offered, considering the start the Ts had and when it looked at one point that 150 would be a decent recovery.
Tea was taken and thanks to the array of fruits and refreshments the Ts were now ready to defend their total and hopefully do the same that their 1s did to ours – bowling them out cheaply and going home early to enjoy the rest of the day and watch the Africans spank the Yanks!
Going home early certainly looked on the cards. The Ts opening pair of Payne and Burman certainly carried on from where they left off last week, bowling with good pace, variety and movement and putting the pressure on the batsmen. Burman was first to strike with the score on 14, getting the opener Ahmed to loft one towards mid-on, where the lanky giraffe wobbled backwards to take a brilliant catch over his head. Burman struck the following over removing the other opener Meredith (luckily not Tom)with a superb catch taken at 2nd slip by batting hero Phil Walker – who before the start of the defence of their innings made it very clear on several occasions to skipper Kriess that he needs to field in the slips – and so he justified himself.
Payne followed suit with with his first of three wickets. No.3 Idmos was bowled through the gap and No.4 Umar trapped LBW with the score on 74. Skipper Pearce came in at No.5 and he hung around for a while but struggled with Payne’s left-handed swerve and Burman’s right-handed bounce. He was lucky to survive the first LBW shout from Payne, he was clearly upset by the umpire’s decision of “NOT OUT”. As Payne did all the hard work from one end, Burman completed it by actually getting the LBW decision against the Teddington skipper. The score now 77 for 5 and the Ts sensed that this could well be another sterling victory. This sense was held onto even more when Payne removed No.6 Ahmed, caught at first slip quite brilliantly by Matt Freeman. (I think Matt has found 2 new roles in the side – pinch hitter and specialist slip fielder!) No.8 Singh was then bowled by Burman which brought the score to 89 for 7 after about 20 overs.
Teddington were now really under pressure not to lose this game badly and Twickenham were most certainly in the driving seat. At the crease for Teddington however, Singh and Mahmood gave very little away. Both held their nerve when with the pressure mounting just played with straight bat working the singles. It looked like both were happy to just bat out for a draw. In order to try and win the game, the Ts skipper tried to swap and change his bowling and was hoping to break a now very frustrating partnership. The ball was handed to Bowman, Freeman and Ubale but not one of them could bring success. With 2 overs proving costly (15 runs each) all of the sudden the opposition had a sniff of closing in on that target. Although not plenty wickets were left, there were however enough over left to possibly chase this down.
By now the total started creeping up and the Ts also looked to getting tired in the field due to the beautiful yellow sun. 89 for 7 became 100 for 7, became 150 for 7 and then became 200 for 7. And the more the score crept up and less was required, the more the Ts got despondent. Heads could been seen dropping and misfields started to occur. Skipper Kriess had thrown the ball back to Payne and Burman, who he was hoping would be the saviours. Burman eventually struck with the score on 212, breaking an 8th wicket partnership of 123 with a fine catch from Ubale to add. However this seemed too little too late as eventually Teddington got over the finish line comfortably, reaching 225 in the 40th over with Singh unbeaten on 64*.
The result left everyone very deflated and disappointed, very much the opposite to last week when the winning feeling was celebrated with a number of cold ones. In this instance it wasn’t and the Ts were left to rue their chances knowing that they couldn’t kill the opposition off with 3 wickets to spare. A loss this season is even more heart-breaking as due to the points system the Ts end up with 0 points for the day and nothing to really show for their effort. Would the old points system still have been in place, Twickenham would have earned themselves 14 points in comparison to Teddington 20 for the victory. This seems a far fairer reflection of the game, but unfortunately it does not seem to be the case anymore. Next week the Ts end the first round of league fixture with a home game against Edmonton 4s.
Holger Kriess
4th Team Captain