Twickenham give it a go but come off second best at Ealing

Ealing                            201-5   

Twickenham                   125-9   

Ealing’s blockbuster batting saw the reigning MCCL champions ease their way into round three of the Middlesex 20:20.  Solid contributions all the way down the order plus some monster hitting by Leigh Parry at the end enabled the hosts to set the Ts an imposing target.  Carlos Nunes did his level best to follow Parry’s lead, but once he fell on his sword for 36 the Ts drifted well off the pace.

Ealing are not the MCCL’s gun team for nothing.  They bat well, bowl well and field well; something that Twickenham found to their cost on Tuesday night.  Twickenham went in to the game without the two Mullazahadahs (at a wedding in Afghanistan!), Clint McCabe (in SA bemoaning Bafana Bafana’s exit from the World Cup) and Dan Housego, hence getting the basics of their game right was more important than ever.  Unfortunately, things didn’t start particularly well, as although Maaz Haffeji removed Luke Stoughton (caught in the covers by Dan Hough for 0) there were too many wides, a couple of dropped catches and some less than sublime fielding.  Ealing had got off to a flier.

Nunes and the mercurial JP Cronje took the pace off the ball and for a while the run rate came down, but once Leigh Parry began blasting the ball into the balconies of neighbouring houses the Ts were very much on the back foot.  One of his sixes (to get himself off the mark) was a real monster – and I am not even sure he really timed it properly!

The Ts started their chase in positive fashion; Twickenham’s resident stand up comedian, Dave Russell, punched a few through the covers whilst Nunes pulled and drove with panache.  With the Ts moving quickly up to and beyond the 50 mark the game was not yet lost.  But once Nunes and Russell were bowled driving, the Ts fate rested predominantly on the shoulders of two TCC colts; Julian Hornby and Jack Parker.  They ran speedily and played some good cricket shots, but eventually they too succumbed in the run chase.  Ryan Combrinck blasted a couple of decent boundaries (including one delightfully timed maximum), and Garth Borain briefly joined the party, but scoreboard pressure eventually saw wickets fall quickly and the runs dry up leaving the visitors plenty short.

Although the result was pretty clear cut, the Ts can hold their heads up high.  A team with two colts, a gaggle of guys who have played predominantly second team cricket this season and some real top quality opponents always meant that this was going to be a tough ask.  And so it was.  Best of luck to Ealing in the next round.