Drama in Bushy Park
The ones started off just a few miles down the road in Bushy Park against Teddington. The Ts’ record against their local rivals is somewhere between abysmal and atrocious, but this time round the side travelled in quietly confident mood.

The game proved to be an enthralling encounter (see here for the card). Scott Newman (82 in 98 balls) and Ben Leale-Green (83no in 104) were the mainstays of Twickenham’s 244, although 33 (in 32 balls) from Mesome Hussain towards the end did much to keep the momentum going.

In reply, Teddington started slowly as Val Guiraud picked up Tom Twiney and the dangerous Nick Pryde. At 55-3 the Ts were in the box seat. An excellent 161 partnership between Ben Trevor-Jones and Freddie Wynn then turned the tables as the game entered the last ten overs with Teddington in control.

Ishi Singh Sohi then made the most dramatic of interventions, helping himself to a hat-trick of LBWs (ending up with 6-30 off 8 and a bit overs). The game was now on a knife-edge. Or it was until the penultimate over when the umpires deducted the Ts six penalty runs for being behind the over-rate. Needing three to win with 7 balls left the final Teddington pair scrambled home.

Nash shines on the Green
Phil Nash was the star of the show on Twickenham Green as the second XI eased past Indian Gymkhana.

The Ts took first hit and posted 198 off their requisite 45 overs. Nash was very much the mainstay, notching his first league century for the Ts (110no off 100 balls). Skipper Eugene Berger was the principal support act, posting an unusually (but very sensibly) restrained 38 off 57 balls.

In reply, Indian Gym simply never got going. In fact, they did well to recover from 40-6 to 99 all out, Nakul Vishvanath taking the last wicket (LBW) to finish everything off.

An excellent start from the 2s, and from Nash in particular who showed that buckling down, hitting hard when the ball is there but most importantly not giving it away can be crucial in getting those all important runs on the board.

Threes come off second best
The threes had a less successful day at Ealing 3s, losing by eight wickets. Batting first on a tough track, the top order struggled to gain any traction. Steve Cowley, batting at one, rode his luck a bit, but his 36 was for a long time the only highpoint in a scorecard of low points.

Anu Agarwal (42) and the blossoming Robbie Bosier (22) did at least manage to get the Ts above 100, although in truth 135 still felt a fair few short. That became even more evident when Ealing got to 60-0 in double-quick time and although the hosts did lose a couple of wickets on the way they got to their target without much of an ado.

Bollywood Basher comes to the party
The fourths, meanwhile, started with a bang, defeating Teddington in impressive fashion. The Ts took first whack, posting an impressive 194; a decent target at Broom Road in conditions that made run-scoring tricky.

Rajdeep Chaudhry was the star with the bat, whilst Praween Siriwardena's four wickets were key to the Ts bowling Teddington out for 135. Nihal Singh Tomar has, despite missing the first hour of the game on account of tea-making duties, managed to get out of the blocks quickly and write a match report. See here for the full lowdown.

Poor old fifths win silver medal
Finally, spare a thought for the poor old fifth XI skipper, Chris Wylde. The fifths started well, bowling Harrow St Mary's 4ths out for 129. A decent effort. But things went well and truly astray in the batting department; 46 all out tells its own story.

As Wylde himself said afterwards, "after playing cricket for 30 years today was a game of firsts for me: the first time I've skippered, the first time I've played in hail and the first time I've top scored for the team with 10!". And, it gets worse ... "It's also the first time my team has scored less than 50!".

Respect due to Chris and all the fifth dimension; HSM are likely to be one of the stronger sides and, as Wylde continued, "it was a valiant effort from my nine guys; me move on, there's always next week after all".

That's the type of attitude that everyone appreciates! We move on, folks, we move on.