Twickenham and Acton share the points in entertaining draw at the Park Club

Twickenham    237-8  (G. Hughes 68, W. Paull 44, M. Turnell 5-61)

Acton              206-9   (S. Jones 100, K. Hunt 39, W. Paull 6-42)

Twickenham came out narrowly on top in an entertaining drawn encounter with old rivals Acton at the Park Club.  Grant Hughes set the ball rolling for the Ts with a quickfire 68, while Warwick Paull chipped in with a well-crafted 44.  Matthew Turnell’s 5-61 nonetheless limited Twickenham to 237 off their 53 overs.  Acton made good progress in chasing down their total, but the loss of crucial wickets at key moments – most of them thanks to good bowling by Warwick Paull (6-42) – eventually forced them to settle for a losing draw. 

The 20:20 fireworks of the night before were put to one side as Twickenham made the short journey to west London to take on Acton.  With classic 80s soft rock blasting away in the background (there was a concert of some sort going on in another section of the club’s grounds) and an impressive military fly past taking place above, it felt like the Ts had ended up back at Indian Gymkhana (and the end of Heathrow’s runway) rather than the serene settings of a private leisure centre.  Indeed, at one point it felt like batsmen needed to take megaphones out to the crease in order to get any sort of sensible calling done …

The Acton track looked good and the Ts – again – were asked to have a bat.  Given the decidedly calamitous chase that Twickenham had attempted the week previously against Shepherds Bush, perhaps no bad thing.  Grant Hughes and JP Cronje set off brightly, eschewing the need to risk communicating with one another and dealing mostly in boundaries.  Cronje wasn’t quite as belligerent as in the pre-season warm up game at the same venue, but he none the less helped himself to a couple of early 4s as well as a nice maximum on the short leg side.  Hughes drive powerfully and, despite the odd play and miss, looked in decent touch.

Acton skipper James Hunt opened the bowling, although given Twickenham’s decent start it wasn’t long before he started changing things round.  Sunil Ghumra came off after four overs (0-27) to be replaced by Donovan Fyffe.  Fyffe’s big boomerangs prompted the first casualty of the Ts innings, J-P Cronje falling to a good catch by Rian McKee for 27.  With Ali Ahmed also hooping it nicely, it looked like the ball might be beginning to take control of the bat.  Hunt nonetheless whipped Fyffe out of the attack (1-16 off 3) and also slowed the pace down at the Pavilion End, bringing on the off-spinning duo of Keith Hunt and Matt Turnell. 

Warwick Paull and Hughes nonetheless progressed with few dramas, Hughes moving passed 50 (57 balls) as Twickenham cruised passed the 100 mark.  Paull, as ever, took his time, played himself in and slowly started to move through the gears.  A couple of quick wickets – Hughes falling to a contentious caught behind for 68 (65 balls) and skipper Nunes succumbing to a nice catch by Ghumra on the leg side boundary – couldn’t put the elegant South African off his stride.  Dan Hough – fresh from his nerve-jingling 25no against Teddington in the 20:20 – started brightly enough at five, hitting Keith Hunt nicely over his head for four before pulling him to square leg for another boundary.  Hough’s positive intentions soon proved to be his undoing, and it wasn’t long before he spooned a simple catch to McKee at long off for 16. 

The Ts needed to settle.  Unfortunately, the opposite happened.  Al Storey looked solid enough until Turnell – who’d slipped into a nice rhythm from the Pavilion End – coaxed him out of his crease and he was removed stumped for 6.  Worse was to follow when Paull took a leaf out of Dan Hough’s book, chipping Turnell straight into the hands of one of the boundary fielders, this time long on.  183-6 was not a disastrous position, but it could’ve been much better.  Debutant Ashley Gray and Matt Bendelow did their best to steady the ship, although overs quickly passed and the Ts began to think anxiously about declaration issues.

With 5 overs to go Bendelow in particular began to force the tempo, eventually falling on his sword for 20, whilst Gray succumbed to Hunt for 13.  With a score of around 210 now beckoning the Ts really did need Mike Vosloo and Damon Combrinck to eek out as many runs as they could from the last few balls.  Their styles contrasted somewhat.  Combrinck swept and nurdled well; Vosloo butchered the ball in a show out outright violence.  One six and one skier that was in danger of hitting any low-flying aircraft later, and the Ts were declaring on an eminently respectable 237-8 off their 53 overs.

It would be fair to say that the tea – the entertaining histrionics of the tea lady aside – was not the most memorable part of the day.  2 small sandwiches, one dollop of cake and a samosa can’t really compare with the Delia Smith-esque fare that messrs Amos and Platts were apparently serving up on the Green.  But, well, the cricket was good so we’ll look over this disappointing interlude for now.

Acton started their chase in solid fashion.  Donovan Fyfee and Steve Jones took their time, content to hit bad balls for four and block/leave more or less everything else.  Not a bad strategy.  Paul Cassidy, taking the new ball in the absence of Justin Scriven, bowled well to start with, as did Mike Vosloo.  Acton nonetheless made decent progress.  39-0 off 10 certainly meant ‘advantage Acton’.  Carlos Nunes subsequently looked to chop and change his bowling in the hope of getting a breakthrough.  Cassidy swapped ends, whilst Paull entered the attack to replace Vosloo.  And, he made an immediate impression, removing Fyffe thanks to a fantastic diving Al Storey at second slip.  Bodies were flying everywhere in the ‘Office’ in an attempt to catch the flying ball, but Storey kept his cool and snuffled a super catch. 

McKee came in at three and immediately boshed Paull for two immaculate straight boundaries.  Again, the Ts realised that a moment of inspiration might be needed to keep the game moving forward.  And, sure enough, one came.  Skipper Nunes, keeping wicket, scrambled to chase a ball that had bounced 15 yards behind square.  He instinctively turned, threw and mowed down the stumps leaving McKee stranded short of his ground.  When the dangerous Yasir Mehmood – a fearsome hitter of the ball when he gets going – nicked another snorter, first ball, from Paull to Cronje in the gulley, the Ts were right back in it. 

Sunil Ghumra also looked to be positive, but he rarely looked at home against the moving ball.  Paull, in particular, was giving the diminutive number five all sorts of problems and it wasn’t long before he scooped the ball to Dan Hough at mid on.  Opening bat Jones, meanwhile, was cruising serenely on.  He breezed passed 50 and in Keith Hunt (at six) he found a reliable partner to take Acton forward.  Hunt played sensibly, farming the strike to the in-form opener.  Jones cut well and drove nicely, and when Damon Combrinck grassed a tough chance at mid-wicket with Jones in the sixties it looked as if Twickenham might have missed the respective boat.  Jones moved on, reaching his century (109 balls) when the Acton score was 147, illustrating what a pivotal figure he had become in the Acton chase. 

Nunes again shuffled his pack, bringing the spin twins of JP Cronje and Grant Hughes into the attack.  Hughes tweeked and twirled until, eventually, he got his man, bowling Jones and putting the Ts back in the game.  When JP Cronje dismissed Hunt (well taken in the deep by Ashley Gray) for 39 it became clear that the tide was turning.  Skipper James Hunt, batting at eight, and Mike McGechie (at seven) attempted to stop the rot, but both perished quickly; Hunt bowled hoiking by the returning Warwick Paull and McGeechie well caught by Al Storey at mid-wicket.  184-8 and the Ts were on the charge. 

Number nine Ali Ahmed looked to mix defence and attack and he hung around menacingly for five overs.  Eventually, however, he too perished to Paull, leg before for 12.  Twickenham subsequently had six balls at the final pair, Alex Brennan and Matt Turnell.  Acton, meanwhile, were well short of the winning post of 237, but they were still within sight of the winning draw; they subsequently needed 16 runs to secure a rather unlikely four points.  Twickenham went for the kill, posting close catchers, urging Mike Vosloo to bowl full and straight.  This he did – and number 10 Brennan looked in no trouble at all, stroking 10 off the first three deliveries.  Brennan clearly looked like he could bat and Nunes wisely decided that discretion would be the better part of valour, pushing the field back to – at the very least – protect the winning draw.  Brennan was no doubt tempted to go for glory, but, in the end, he settled for a solitary single off the final ball three balls to secure Acton one point.

Whilst Twickenham could easily have won this game, they could also have lost it.  Acton and Twickenham are reasonably well matched and a draw was probably a fair result. Given the pummelling Twickenham took the week before, four points is clearly not the end of the world either.  Next week sees Twickenham play host to South Hampstead.