Twickenham make hay while the sun shines …
Twickenham
248 all out (G. Hughes 69, C. Nunes 64, W. Paull 45, R. Daisy
4-47)
Old Rutlishians
154 all out (S. Mohammed 62, K. Foster 33, W. Paull 3-11)
Twickenham CC’s 1st XI continued their impressive start
to the season with a convincing 94 run triumph against Old
Rutlishians. Fireworks
from the Twickenham top order ensured that Carlos Nunes’s men set
Old Ruts a challenging target of 249 to win and, despite a solid
effort from the Rutlishians skipper, Mohammed (62), the
For an hour and a half on Saturday it felt like the IPL had come to
town. Huge hits,
extravagant shot-making and runs a plenty were the order of the day,
as J-P Cronje, Grant Hughes, Carlos Nunes and Warwick Paull
attempted to out-do each other in an impromptu six hitting
competition. The only
things that were missing were the pretty damn ropey kits that the
likes of the ‘Knightriders’ (do they come out to the theme tune out
of interest? Is ‘The
Hoff’ the official mascot, and if not why not?!) and the ‘Superkings’
(is it compulsory to smoke 20 a day for advertising purposes, one
wonders) have to wear and the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders on
the sidelines. But,
these things aside, the cricket had plenty in common with what
Setanta subscribers have been witnessing of late.
J-P Cronje set the ball rolling by getting off the mark over
mid-wicket with a six.
Grant Hughes – in his first knock on English soil for eight years –
didn’t take long to come to the party, clocking up three boundaries
in quick succession.
When the 50 came up in the 7th over the ‘Twickenham Super
Swans’ were buzzing along nicely.
Cronje helped himself to six more over square leg, while
Hughes hit Daisy over his head from a majestic straight maximum.
The ease at which the score was ticking along made it all the
more surprising when Cronje was trapped leg before (36 in 36 balls)
by the left arm tweak of Mohammed.
Although Hughes had more of the strike, passing 50 from 53
balls, Warwick Paull also wasted little time in joining the fun.
With characteristic finesse he drove well through the covers
and generally placed the ball nicely into the gaps.
Hughes looked all set for his maiden test century for the Ts until –
again somewhat unexpectedly – a wicket fell, the Queenslander
driving a little loosely to one of Daisy’s slow medium pacers.
Backward point took a straightforward catch, and Hughes
departed for 69 (67 balls).
If Old Ruts breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the
Aussie departing, they probably weren’t aware that Carlos Nunes had
every attention of scoring at an even quicker rate.
Three more sixes went into the score book and it wasn’t long
(36 balls) before the Ts’ skipper was cruising past 50.
By the time Nunes perished (64 in 45 balls) the Ts were 218
for 3 with 17 overs remaining.
A truly mammoth total beckoned.
But then something appeared to change.
Warwick Paull’s well-crafted 45 marked the end of the
controlled batting as Ts batters came and went with increasing
regularity. Dimi
Nicolaides edged a decent ball behind off the impressive Cooper,
while Dan Hough perished in similar fashion to Daisy.
The only batsman to offer any genuine resistance was Mark
Ryan who calmly stood and watched the procession at the other end,
remaining not out as the innings closed on 248.
Despite the fact that the score could, and indeed should, have been
higher, the Ts bowlers nonetheless had plenty to work with as they
set to their task after tea (C+ on the Tea Meter; nice home made
cakes, but not a great deal of variety in the sandwich department.
The £40 price tag wasn’t over impressive either).
Ryan Combrinck tried to get right into the Old Ruts top order
by steaming in the from Morden End, so much so that Santos would
have needed a tennis racket to get anywhere near the first ball of
the day as a bouncer sailed high over his head.
Combrinck’s second ball was also a bouncer, but it was much
nearer the mark as the Old Ruts opener ducked hurriedly under it.
Skipper Mohammed, batting at four, steadied the ship.
While Foster hacked and thrashed merrily away outside off
stump, Mohammed flicked nicely off his legs and drove convincingly
off the back foot. Old
Ruts soon went past the 50 mark as the batters began to enjoy
themselves. The Ts
didn’t really help themselves by dropping a couple of catches, but
the impressive Mark Ryan (1-21 off 6) removed Foster thanks to a
sharply taken catch by Nunes behind the stumps.
Sadiq, at five, didn’t last long, the metronomic Cassidy
(1-25 off 6) prompting a false shot into the hands of Cronje at
short mid-off, but it was the key wicket of Mohammed that signalled
the end of any Old Ruts hopes of winning the game.
The wily off-spin of Cronje saw off the dangerman as he was
trapped in front for a well-made 62.
The wickets soon began tumbling.
Lindo went the same way as his captain for 2 whilst Warwick
Paull bowled Cooper with a snorter for a single.
Arayamyagam tried to open his arms and take the attack to the
visitors, but Paull again came up trumps thanks to another caught
behind by Nunes. Pryce,
batting at ten, also couldn’t deal with Paull’s (3-11 off 5) seam
movement but it was left to Grant Hughes to end proceedings with a
lovely googly to bowl last man Day for 8.
The Ts played some good cricket and deservedly came out winners.
The middle order collapse wasn’t, however, particularly
edifying, and the fielding and catching were passable but by no
means perfect. So, as
ever, plenty of things to work on.
That having been said, the bowlers put the ball in good areas
and the Twickenham top order fired well.
Next week sees the final warm up game of the season, with the
Ts playing at home against near neighbours