Swashbuckling Salmon leads the way as the Ts win at Worcester Park

Worcester Park               166-8    (K. Malik 41, S. Gomes 2-33)

Twickenham                   168-4    (J. Salmon 63, C. Maloney 2-30)

A bombastic 63 from a rampant James Salmon was the highlight of Twickenham’s 6 wicket victory at Worcester Park on 27^th June.  Tight, straight bowling from Stevie Gomes at the death also helped, whilst the TCC players were also treated to what may well be a once in a lifetime experience; the Wounded Giraffe, Andy Donelan diving (or was it slipping?) full length to run out a batter by yards.  Donelan reloaded (gun fielder, 20:20 pinch hitter, wily off spinner and so on) is a ray of light, and a very different animal from the original model.

The Ts set out early for this friendly encounter over in deepest Surrey so as to be able to fit in a two hour tea break and watch England collapse abjectly against the Germans.  WPCC’s skipper Carlos Maloney won the toss and, on the hottest day of the year thus far, took approximately half a millisecond to decide that the hosts would bat.  Suffice to say that Twickenham skipper Dan Hough needs to seriously re-consider the fundamentals of his ‘coin theory’, which this season has been proven to have more holes in it than England’s rickety central defensive partnership of Terry and Upson.

Although the Ts had quite a bit of variety in terms of both batting and bowling, they were severely lacking in the keeping department.  So much so that a discussion ensued as to who indeed would wear the set of miniature gloves and pads that Hough had accrued from Tony Ward’s secret store in the pavilion.  Tom Nickels ultimately put his hand up to take on the task, and, fair play, he did an admirable job; no byes at all, stingray-like reflexes and most importantly no dropped catches.  Not bad when you haven’t kept for years. 

Nickels also provided one of the comedy moments of the day in removing the dangerous WPCC skipper, Maloney.  JP Bowman managed to induce a top edge from the Bajan bosher that looped over Nickels.  The TCC stopper scampered back 15 yards or so before whipping off both his keeping gloves and taking the catch with the greatest of ease – much as he would no doubt have done had he been in the day job as an outfielder.  How you take them doesn’t matter though, the only thing that counts is that the ball doesn’t hit the floor – although no one present could ever remember seeing a keeper disregard his mittens in quite this way before.

However, Bowman’s breakthrough didn’t really stop WPCC from making decent progress.  Joe Gordon (0-24 off 5) bowled without much luck, whilst Portuguese man-o-war Hinay Dassani also looked as if he was going to go home wicketless.  However, the fifth team supremo eventually got his just rewards when he did opener Chris Russell up like a kipper, bowling him for 36.  Debutant Sarwant Singh also joined the party with his gentle away singers, and his first scalp in Twickenham colours came when he bowled the number four Mark Turner for 7.

WPCC nonetheless kept ticking along at roughly a run a ball as John Rivenell (batting at five) and Malik (batting at three) put together a decent partnership.  Indeed, at one stage it looked as if WPCC would post a total somewhere close to 200.  However, sterling spells from Donelan and Gomes helped bring the boundary count down, and as wickets began to fall – Gomes bowling very much wicket to wicket, whilst Donelan, slippery as an eel, tweaked and twirled away – so did the run rate.  Indeed, the Ts were pretty content to be chasing only 166 on a flatish track with a quick outfield and a couple of small boundaries to help the cause. 

Fair play to WPCC for putting on a treat of a tea and arranging a plaice where both sides could watch the football in peace; given the amount of people around, watching the game in WPCC’s main pavilion would no doubt have been a sardine-like experience, so the Ts were very relieved/impressed to hear that a TV had been set up in the tea room.  Well, almost everyone.  Steve Gomes showed real savvyness in not really bothering to take the match in but rather to snooze his way through it at the back.  Given the turgid fare on show, a very wise decision. 

The Ts started their chase in conservative fashion.  Sarwant Singh managed a couple of boundaries in the first over, but once he was harshly adjudged caught behind by the ‘Urban Umpire’ (“I thought if it came off your upper arm it was out”), Fishcakes Salmon and the Giraffe looked to play themselves in.  And this they did, with Twickenham on 13-1 off 7 overs.  It was at this point that the Salmon turned into something akin to a batting piranha; a belligerent six over cover was followed with a bombastic pull that always ended up in the railway station.  The slow start was proving a real red herring, as the next 9 overs brought 82 runs with the game swinging very much Twickenham’s way.

Even when Salmon perished for 62 and Donelan for a lively 26 the Ts remained on top, as Tom Nickels – despite a nasty top edge in to his forehead – and Dave Brady continued to drive with panache.  Brady in particular began peppering the poor soul at mid off, one particular drive cannoning in to this ribs at a fair rate of knots.  Brady’s fun was nonetheless curtailed when Maloney got through his defences with the finishing line in sight, leaving Nickels (24no) and Hough (13no) to see the ship home.

A Sunday victory and some decent batting and bowling all round equals a decent day at the office.  Special mention to Rishi Mahimikar for his contributions in the field, his keenness to chase everything was very refreshing to see.  Next week sees the Ts return to league action with a trip over to the Park Club at Acton.