Only the fours offered a glimmer of hope on Saturday 22 July, winning in impressive fashion against Indian Gymkhana. All of the other four Twickenham sides came off second best.

Richmond power past Ts
They say it's tough at the top, but it can no doubt be even tougher at the bottom. After a slow start to the season the ones have picked up, but they were no match for high-flying Richmond at the Old Deer Park (see here for the card).

Clint McCabe (36 in 34 balls) was the star of the batting show, but his quickfire contribution was never likely to be enough to see the Ts home. Richmond chased down 127 with plenty to spare.

On the plus side, Brondesbury and Highgate both lost, although Highgate came mighty close to pulling off a shock at North Middlesex. The gap between the Ts (8th) and Brondesbury (9th) remains 11 points (see here).

Twos go down fighting
The twos did their level best to build on last week's impressive victory against Teddington before eventually succumbing by three wickets to Richmond's second string.

The ebullient Dan Taylor (49 in 38 balls) and the ever-bombastic Eugene Berger (45 in 43 balls) were the mainstays of Twickenham's 166 (see here for the card). Richmond nonetheless responded in steady fashion, more or less all of their batters making a contribution to ultimately chasing the total down. Tom Field and Anu Agarwal shared six wickets between them though, meaning that the margin of victory was certainly tighter than many of the visitors might have expected.

The defeat leaves the Ts still in the relegation zone, but Teddington are by no means out of sight above them (see here). The Ts need to start winning, but, well, the last two weeks have at least offered an indication that they have that in them.

Threes lose against Hornsey
The return of threes' legend Tom Jefferson to cheer the side on the from the sidelines wasn't enough to see the Ts defeat Hornsey.

Batting-wise, things went pretty well. Skipper Steve Watts led the way with 43 as the hosts posted 245. Hornsey, however, responded imperiously, cruising along with few apparent worries. Samir Mohammed (96) was the star turn as Hornsey reached their total with four wickets in hand.

The defeat sees the Ts drop down to 8th. Week 13's fixture against 9th placed Hornsey (see here for the table) now looks like it could be season-defining. Fingers crossed availability holds up during the week.

Fours beat Indian Gym
The fours returned to winning ways, defeating old adversaries Indian Gym. However, at 102/9 the Ts didn't look like they'd be getting anywhere winning this particular game. A thoughtful 39no from Olli George as well as some useful hitting from skipper Dassani (16) saw the 4s end on a much more respectable 148.

At 50-2 Indian Gym were nonetheless in a strong position to gain the 10 points. But, 80-4 became 100-7 as the IG middle order wilted. Dassani kept helping himself to wickets, but it was ultimately Praween Siriwardene who stole the glory, claiming the last two wickets in three balls to seal the deal as 137-8 became 142a/o.

Fifths come off second best against Richmond.
The 5ths certainly had a stronger side out than they have had in recent weeks, but ultimately it did them little good. They lost by 9 wickets.

135 all out never really looked like it was going to be enough, although Param Saini's blistering 60 (of merely 31 balls!) certainly changed the face of the Ts' innings. In reply Ash Hanspal's 79 no ensured that Richmond nonetheless got home with a minimum of fuss.

All in all, a tough day. But, life goes on. We group and go again on Saturday.