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Week 2 Preview

Week 2 Preview

Dan Hough17 May 2019 - 10:06
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Fours have already won, other Ts sides all in action in Week 2

Leading a side out with 11 men in it will represent progress on last week. But, one defeat isn't the end of the world, we go again
- Chris Wylde

Week 2 and four of the five Twickenham Saturday sides are in action. The 4th XI is the exception; they've already got their ten points safely in the bag.

Free week for the fours
Hinay Dassani's 4th XI got off to an impressive start in week one, defeating near-neighbours Teddington (see here for the match report) by 59 runs. 10 points out of 10 has already become 20 points out of 20 as, for the second week running, Ealing Vs have cried off without a ball being bowled.

All very unfortunate in terms of the 4s getting a game, but certainly quite useful in ensuring that they are near the top of the division. That having been said, if Ealing continue scrubbing fixtures then their record will be extinguished and all we'll have is missed cricketing weekends. Not ideal for anyone.

5s look to get off the mark
The demise of the 4th XI's fixture does at least mean that the 5ths are guaranteed to field a full compliment this week. That having been said, availability was already pretty good and the challenge will be to make sure as many people as possible get game over the weekend.

Chris Wylde's side welcome Harrow Town to Broom Road. The visitors came off second best themselves in week 1, losing narrowly to Chiswick. They'll also no doubt be looking to get their season moving.

Wylde has the usual eclectic mix of talents to call on. Phil Walker and Gil Sanchez offer (lots and lots and lots of) experience, whilst Jonny Bosier can - if the mood takes him - hit the ball many a mile. Phil Smith plays and he'll bat in a style that couldn't be more different to that of Bosier; his nudges and nurdles have served him pretty well in pre-season, and he'll be looking to dig in at the top of the order again.

Pete Burke has promised that he'll be celebrating his birthday (Friday 17th) with ovaltine and an early night. That should enable him to unleash that searing pace we all know is lurking inside somewhere. Talking of searing pace (or lack thereof), Andy Donelan may well get the chance to loop up some of those offies.

All in all, the fives will be looking to get their season moving. Do pop down and support if you can, there may well be beach volleyball being played right next door ...

Ones return home
Back on Twickenham Green, the ones will be in action. Harrow St Mary's, enjoying their debut season in the top fight, are the visitors.

Skipper Carlos Nunes is back to lead the troops, and he'll join last week's heavy run scorers, Scott Newman and Ben Leale-Green, in what is looking like a pretty decent batting line up. Throw in Darshan Chohan, Don Manuwlege, Mesome Hussain and last week's second XI centurion, Phil Nash, and the Ts have no excuses in terms of getting runs on the board.

Bowling-wise, neither Gurjit Sandhu nor Ishi Singh Soni are around this week, so it's likely that the Ts will turn to spin. And plenty of it. Parminder Singh will undoubtedly lead the way, but he'll be helped by Manuwelge and Tom Field. Val Guiraud, meanwhile, will be looking to ditch the wides and concentrate on what went well at Teddington (2-40 off 10 even with 10 wides in that).

Saturday's game will, of course, be covered live on Pitchvision, but the bar will be open so do pop by and lend the side your support.

Twos travel to HSM
The twos will be off to Harrow to play the return fixture against HSM. Eugene Berger's side started impressively last week, brushing Indian Gym easily aside. This week, however, they will be missing Phil Nash (see above). Others need to come to the party.

The evergreen Dan Taylor comes in to replace the Leicestershire all-rounder, whilst Geoff Stothert and Ethan Wright also make their seasonal debuts. Lewis Mitchard, a new recruit from Hampshire, will also be looking to contribute with bat and ball.

The mainstay of Berger's side nonetheless remains the same as it did in week 1; Nakul Vishvanath will be spinning his webs and batting nice and straight, whilst Ajmal Allahdad will be taking more or less the opposite approach in trying simply to hit the ball in to wherever there's a gap. Josh Hinde, Ethan Wright and Nikhil Nomula will all looking to be getting their respective season's moving.

Thirds welcome Hornsey

The thirds, meanwhile, welcome Hornsey to St Mary's. Both sides were well beaten in week 1 so it's going to be interesting to see how they bounce back.

Hornsey are without their now-retired institution, Johnny Bruce. Quite how they deal with that gap in the bowling department remains to be seen.

The Ts have their own institutional bedrock well and truly on side; Anu Agarwal and Stu Amos offer both off spin and no little batting prowess, whilst the likes of Connor Finney, Oli George and Sam Cliffe have all shown that they can do well at this level. Robbie Bosier will be looking to get in amongst the wickets whilst the ageless Mo Ahmad - the only man who could plausibly play for both the TCC U21s and the TCC Vets - is also well and truly on board.

As ever, the challenge for the Ts' sides will be to convert the undoubted talent in to runs and wickets. Two wins out of five last week was ok, but nothing more. With one win already in the bank in week 2, might this be the week that all five sides bring the bacon home? We will see.

Play with a straight bat, folks.

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