TCC counter-attack impressively
A hard fought and well deserved 12 points against a team 2nd in the league. The toss was always going to be important and unfortunately we lost it. We were asked to have a bat.

It was tough going for the openers given the conditions and how well the Acton openers (in particular Mushi Rauf) bowled first up. At one stage we thought overs were going to exceed the runs on the board but thankfully that wasn’t the case. Once the openers perished I thought skipper Mo Ahmad and Sam Cliff did well to temporarily get us out of a sticky situation.

The stand in skipper played some great counter-attacking cricket and was looking to continue where he left off from in the MDL game the week before. However, once he was dismissed Cliffy and Kan Uppal followed in quick succession. We were really under the pump.

Praween Siriwardena took the attack to Mushi Rauf with consecutive sweeps for four and six respectively but he didn’t go forward to a flat off spinner and was bowled. It was now a case of survival cricket and just getting as many runs on the board as we could.

Hamish Johnston and I did well to negate the earlier threat but an unfortunate mix up between us saw the end of Hamish. Luke Jefferies did his best to hang around whilst I was trying to get one off the square as Acton reverted to spin at both ends. Luke's resistance was ended by the Wiley Robin Reeve and with 12 overs to spare we found ourselves 9 down.

Ozzie Qavi and I took it upon ourselves to simply bat the 50 overs and see where it took us. Whilst I decided to nudge and nurdle singles and doubles, Ozzie was selective in attack and defence and in turn went after the spinners. I felt it was game changing situation where we went from 110/9 to 153 all out with Ozzie being bowled in the final over.

My feeling at the time batting with Ozzie was that it was imperative we bat the 50 overs and not give them any overs back in their chase, and so it proved. We finished up on 153 which I felt was more than a good score given the perilous situation we were in.

Ts bowlers come to the party
With (a decent amount of) runs on the board it gave us the opportunity to bowl attacking lines in our quest to pick up early wickets. I felt the opening bowlers set the tone with Firoz getting the ball pitched up more and Praween giving the ball flight and guile. The crucial moment in my opinion was that after picking up one wicket we consistently got the 2nd and 3rd wicket. Pressure on. All the time.

The big moment in the game came when Ozzie picked up the wicket of Mark Maksic. Having played against him over the years he has always scored runs against us by getting a gritty 30 or 40. I felt that wicket sparked Ozzie into life as he was bowling with more purpose and perhaps added a few more clicks as well as his attacking line and length.

Hamish Johnston was unlucky not to continue where Praween left off. On another day he could have bagged himself 3 wickets but he was ultimately unable to do so due to our mishaps in the field.

The Acton opener Khan unsettled Hamish a touch with his sweeps and flicks but the young leggie showed great maturity and never shirked from the challenge. I felt the persistent pressure he applied on the Acton batters deserves a mention as it assisted in the other bowlers picking up their wickets.

At one stage Acton were 11 runs away from the winning draw total at 118-7 as Joel Onedin started to put his foot down on the accelerator. Mo Ahmad rightfully reintroduced Praween Siriwardena into the attack and he dismissed the plucky keeper batsman Zack Malie. With Onedin at the crease, Acton had every chance of getting the winning draw target. Fortunately for us the returning Sam Cliffe managed to sneak through the defences of Onedin leaving us on the brink. Praween capped off a wonderful spell of bowling by dismissing Robin Reeve as Twickenham deservedly won by 29 runs.

Onwards and upwards
It was a great win and I honestly felt we were the better side throughout the day. One slight negative on the performance was the dropped chances. However, we didn’t let our heads drop and kept creating opportunities and wicket-taking moments.

I felt everyone contributed especially in the field where we all encouraged our bowlers and backed one another. I think Mo captained the side brilliantly and I felt happy for him to break this mini hoodoo of not winning a game as captain. He led us fantastically and was always encouraging us to play a positive attacking brand of cricket. I feel as a captain it's always easy to follow the ball or try too many things in the quest of getting wickets. However, he stuck to his plans and his decision on picking his bowlers at the right times was exemplary.

In terms of my man of the match, I felt there were many notable performances. Mo looked back to his fluent best with the bat and Praween just keeps improving as each game passes by. I felt Firoz bowled a better line and length and Cliffy bowled well during the middle overs.

But I’m going to give my man of the match to Ozzie Qavi. Now, a few weeks back I played with him for the 4s against Hampstead where I felt he was under-bowled and in turn brought on too late in the day. I feel it’s quite easy for a bowler in particular to lose confidence and question your ability. However, the way he batted that game to salvage a losing draw felt like a penny dropping moment. He used that character and “never say die” attitude and that changed the momentum of the game on Saturday. I think he has worked hard at his batting and started to enjoy it at the latter stages of our partnership. I think the confidence in his batting helped him bowl with more aggression and pace. His three wickets and 21 with the bat was a game changer and in my opinion is worthy of a man of the match performance in itself given the situation we found ourselves in.

In keeping up with the theme of attitude and commitment, I felt Luke Jeffries more than kept his own in the 3s. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a bowl but his commitment in the field is always worth a mention as he saved some crucial runs for us.

I also would like to take this moment to give a special mention to Hamish’s dad Craig. Kan had to leave midway through our innings due to an emergency and Craig decided to grab his whites from home and field for us. It was indeed a very nice gesture from him and I’m sure we will thank him with a beer the next time he pops over to the green. Also on behalf of the club we hope Kan’s emergency isn’t as serious as initially feared and we wish the person in question a speedy recovery.

The 3s next take on table-toppers Brondesbury at our own patch (Broom Road, this week!). In the reverse fixture they chased 110 four down, but those 4 wickets were taken with barely 50 on the board. If we continue to keep churning out every single run and bowl with the same aggression and purpose, then I see no reason as to why we can’t cause an upset. Let’s make sure this isn’t a flash in the pan and that we get a positive result come next Saturday.

Enjoy the rest of your week one and all.