The ones, twos and fours all posted winning draws in Week 8 whilst the twos and fives hung on for dear life to claim (potentially valuable) losing draws. Throw in three wins out of three for the Ts’ Sunday sides and, if you’re a glass half full type of person, that means 8 games undefeated over the weekend. Decent.

Close, but no cigar
The ones set the ball rolling with a big winning draw against Eastcote (see here for the card). The Ts (again) batted nicely, pacing themselves to 284-5 off 50 overs. Carlos Nunes scored his 15th competitive tonne for the club (116 in 101 balls) and Rhys Davies continued his fine run of recent form with an impressive 92 (132 balls). Gurjit Sandhu also came in to play a nice little cameo at the end.

Eastcote’s reply never really got going, with Sandhu making a real dent in the visiting top order. 27-3 and then 73-5 meant that any thoughts of winning the game quickly evaporated. Eastcote subsequently battened down the hatches and dug in for the losing draw. Losing four overs to the inclement weather certainly helped them do that, and as the light worsened the game ended with the Ts two wickets short of gaining 12 points.

(Not quite) Knuckle-Dustered
The twos also ended the day with 5 points, although Barnes made more of a fist of the fight than Eastcote did on the Green (see here for the card). Nikhil Nomula (68 in 67 balls), Tom Field (64 in 55) and Nakul Vishvanath (56no in 91) all helped themselves to half centuries as the Ts declared on 274-7.

Barnes were always behind the rate, but never by enough to make things comfortable for Eugene Berger's men. Opener Laurie Cadle’s 70 was the cornerstone of their chase, and whilst he was there the hosts felt that they had a chance. Nakul Vishvanath (again) picked up three wickets to slow the pace down whilst Eugene Berger also grabbed a couple. But, the wickets just wouldn’t come quickly enough and Barnes ultimately closed 26 runs short with two wickets in hand.

Hanging on
The threes made the trek around the North Circular for their top of the table clash with Southgate. Whilst the hosts ultimately had much the better of the game, the Ts can still be pleased with the point that they grimly held on for. If, after all, you can’t win then make sure you don’t lose.

Southgate could certainly have posted a fair few more than the 233 (off 50) that they ended up with. They were 140-1 at one stage and 300 was on the radar. Mark Smith’s four wickets did much to rein them in.

The Ts started their chase well, Oli George (32) and Mo Ahmed (30) looking the part. But, 77-1 became 105-7 and in the end it was left to the Big Tackle and JP Bowman to post the ‘thou shalt not pass’ notices.

Hinay Dassani; potential all-rounder?
The 4s have evidently banished their batting woes and had much the better of a winning draw against SKLP (see here for the card). Nihal Tomar (40) and Colin Blunden (34) were the mainstays of a very competitive 179, although Hinay Dassani’s bombastic 22 at the end also did much to help the tail wag.

Dassani then went back to the day job and helped himself to two wickets in the first over of the visitors’ innings. Excellent fielding, and particularly a stunner of a catch from Praween Siriwardene further helped the cause, as Dassani (5-22 off 15), Shreeraj Chauhan and then Siriwardena kept adding to the wickets column. But, as the overs ticked by SKLP parked the bus and the 4s had to ultimately settle for a winning draw.

Dig in (again)
The fifths found themselves on the wrong end of another big score, this time from Stanmore IVs. The two extremely capable Stanmore openers made hay whilst the sun shone, helping themselves to 81 and 94 respectively as the hosts declared (46 overs) on 256-6. Paddy Turish and Paramdeep Singh (two wickets apiece) were the pick of the bowlers.

Any thoughts of chasing down such an imposing target were soon put to bed as an early wobble became a major attack of the heebee-jeebeeies. Arvind Shidlagatta (62no) and Gilly Sanchez (28) set to work in steadying the ship, and by the time Sanchez left proceedings the game was effectively safe. 1 more point for the 5s in their quest for survival.

Well done one and all, that’s two Saturdays on the bounce where none of the Twickenham sides were beaten. Solid stuff!