TCC 3’s v. Shepherd’s Bush CC 3’s (Home)– Saturday 21st June

Apologies for the lack of match report from last week due to the captain’s absence from the starting lineup. A losing draw was achieved at North Middlesex in a match that looked not to be a day for the bowlers. 280-4 versus 268-6 was a great effort by the boys just falling short of the target in the allotted overs.  This week the Threes were home at Broom Road against lowly Shepherd’s Bush. The weather was overcast and there had been heavy drizzle for most of the morning, but an inspection of the wicket  revealed a surface which looked none too bad for cricket. Any more rain at any stage would cause problems though.  We were without regulars Liebenberg, Blunden and Burke, but Smith, Parker, McCann, Trippett and Sahid were all back and we welcomed two new debutants for the season in John-Paul Stewart and returning from University after four years pretty much out of the game a still very youthful David Brady back in T’s colours. Parker won the toss (as ever) and inserted the opposition – a very good toss to win. The visitors had been severely disrupted by three late withdrawals but, to their credit, still fielded a full eleven.

The new ball was taken by Stewart and Fernando Jardim.  John-Paul immediately impressed with his pace but it was Fernando’s prodigious inswing which claimed the first wicket in the second over as he had the SB opener caught at silly mid-on fending one off to McCann. Not long after this, Fernando followed up by clean bowling the number three with by now only seven runs on the board. T’s tails were up and J-P then got in on the act as the other opener decided to try to break the shackles by going aerial and only managed to sky a rapid one leading to a finely judged catch by Sahid. Numbers 4 and 5 settled to a brief partnership but it was now time for “filth”. Sahid’s left arm spin replaced  Jardim’s (5o-0m-2w-10r) fine opening spell and Agga immediately hit the spot, virtually closing down the oppo’s ability to reach any sort of target. Sahid ripped out numbers 4 and 5 with a clean bowled and an LBW with the score on 19 and 24 respectively. It seemed that we were now into their tail but stout resistance from SB’s captain, Robinson (19), held us up. JP’s fine stint came to an end (10o-3m-1w-15r) and was replaced by Mark Smith. Smithy didn’t waste too much time getting in on the act as he removed number 7 Sukdoe with a caught behind off the faintest tickle to Trippers. We were all fairly certain that Robinson had also nicked one behind for another keeper’s catch but Gerry Brennan was unmoved and the skipper stayed around for just two more overs before being bowled by Sahid with the score now at 43 for 7. There was then a bizarre run out which claimed the eighth wicket. A viciously spinning skied catch off Sahid’s bowling was spilled but the return throw from the drop found the batsmen stranded. Sahid (9o-3m-4w-12r) chipped in again with number 9 after a smart catch at first slip from Don Campbell and Smith (5.2o-1m-2w-12r) claimed the final wicket to fall with a plumb LBW as the SB innings closed on 51 all out.

Tea had not arrived so we turned straight around and  T’s opened with Don Cambell and Nick Burgess.  It seemed that there was going to be no hanging around as the openers plundered twenty runs from the first two overs . Don only managed one more run after his two fours in the first over promised a lot more. He fell in the sixth over caught and bowled by Ewington for 9 but this was to be SB’s only success. Sahid (6no) joined a very much in-form Burgess (36no) who was well into his stride and was scoring runs at will all round the wicket. We reached our target in just 8.4 overs and another ten points were bagged.       

An exceptionally sweet-tasting tea then followed, which served to mellow the oppo’s overall outlook on the game during which they had simply not been at all competitive. The news that Hornsey had managed only a winning draw meant that we have now closed the gap a little at the top of the table to just seven points. So our visit to them next week could put us top if we win. What better incentive – c’mon the T’s!

Phil Parker.