A Twickenham T20 side made a foray in to Surrey on Friday evening to play Banstead. The players returned to the Green with a nice 6 wicket victory tucked in to their respect backpocket (you can see the card here).

175 years of tradition
The victory, however, was very much secondary to the occasion itself. Banstead CC is 175 years old this year. To celebrate the occasion they have organised a series of nice-looking games to mark the occasion. The MCC are visiting on Sunday and later in the month the home side will be playing an 'England Masters' XI. Sounds great.

The Ts also had a role to play in the festivities. Unbeknown to anyone on the Green until recently Twickenham were in fact Banstead's very first opponents all those years ago. I've done some research in to this and from what I can tell (although I might be wrong) none of the current Vets played in the game, although it can't be totally discounted that they were in the bar bemoaning something or other. Be that as it may, Banstead asked the Ts to come back and to play the first of their celebratory fixtures.

Knuckle-Dustered
The Ts gladly accepted the offer and a strongish side made it's way in to leafy Surrey. Banstead had first hit, and although they got off to a good start Nakul Vishvanath continued his season of good form with the ball by taking 3-20 off 4. A decent effort when you consider those three wickets were three of the top five and that the hosts were 56-1 at one point.

The Knuckle Duster's strangling job ensured that Banstead suddenly ran in to a few problems, ultimately finishing on 132-9 with the other wickets being nicely shared around.

Horse on the Loose!
The Ts' batting line up looked more than capable of chasing the target down, although when Nikhil Nomula - wisely saving his runs for the weekend - departed for a duck Banstead will have had their respective tails up. But, Clint McCabe, fresh from his MCC exertions earlier in the week (see here), soon swung the pendulum firmly Twickenham's way.

McCabe, as is his way, breezily helped himself to five boundaries and four sixes and by the time that he departed the Ts were in sight of the finishing line. That still gave Simon Dunning, another man who can certainly whack a cricket ball, time to launch a couple of maximums as the Ts cruised home with 12 balls to spare.

Cricket's the Winner
The result, however, is largely immaterial. We were honoured to simply be asked to play in what was a great advert for club cricket. Best of luck to Banstead for the rest of their anniversary season.