4s just keep going
The stars of the Twickenham show remain the fourth XI. Preston North End were football’s invincibles (worth reminding Arsenal fans that should they ever need to be nudged) but Hinay Dassani’s fourth XI are making a strong case to be the cricketing equivalent. Seven games, seven wins so far.

South Hampstead 4s were the latest to be steamrollered (see here). Batting first, SH could only master 59. Hinay Dassani managed to get six bowlers involved and five of them took wickets in what was a real team effort. Brandon Newman was arguably the star of the show, taking 2-8 off 5. Decent.

In reply, Uzzi Khan dropped anchor allowing Colin Blunden (21) and Olli George (17no) to see the ship safely home. The win leaves Twickenham 7 points clear of second place Acton and a whopping 28 points ahead of third placed Indian Gymkhana (see here for the table).

The Earl of Twirl does his thing
The threes also returned to winning ways with an impressive victory against Southgate (see here for the card).

Skipper Steve Watts had been struggling for form before Saturday, but he stepped up, dug in and set a good base for his side to post a competitive 193. His 68 not out was very well earned. Parampreet Singh (40) upped the tempo nicely towards the end as the 3s looked to put the pressure on their struggling visitors.

In reply Southgate were under the kosh from the very beginning, JP Bowman and Ozzie Qavi removing both openers for single figures. The real star of the bowling show, however, was the Sheikh of Tweak, Anu Agarwal. 6-10 off 9 overs (!) as he bamboozled the Southgate lower and middle order. Southgate ended 120 short (see here for the table).

Ones struggle against Stanmore
The First XI, meanwhile, suffered another tough day at the office. Stanmore are always tricky opponents, and so it proved on Saturday (see here for the card).

Carlos Nunes (36) looked in much better touch at the top of the order, and whilst he was batting there was hope that the Ts could get a decent score on the board. Ben Leale-Green (56) also grafted his way to an impressive half-century, but ultimately it never quite felt like 157 would be enough.

Abhiraj Singh (4-57), on debut for the Ts, certainly tried his best to put Stanmore under pressure, but a solid knock from Steve Reingold (79) was the real difference between the sides. The Ts subsequently slip to the bottom of the log (see here). The only way from there, however, is up. Bring on next week.

Twos come off second best at Kenton
The twos also suffered another frustrating day, losing at Kenton (see here for the card).

Eugene Berger’s side batted first, posting 180. A number of players got in, but none really went on to decisively push the Ts onwards towards a winning score. Sam Cliffe (28) and Dan Taylor (26) top scored, although three other players made it north of 20.

In reply, Deepak Singh (68) and Shaukat Feroz (70) looked to have things very much under control for Kenton and at 143-1 there was only one side winning this game. But, the Ts then fought back gamely, debutant George Yates taking 3-43 and Sam Cliffe piling in for 4-20 as Kenton seemed on the verge of imploding. Ultimately, they narrowly avoided doing that, squeezing home by three wickets.

Despite losing the 2s nonetheless remain sixth in the table (see here). Still time to make a dash north rather than south as the second XI league begins to concertina together.

Fives both win and lose
The fifths managed to both win and lose this weekend. In terms of league cricket, they are 12 points richer; Winchmore Hill cried off on Thursday (see here for the table). In terms of what actually happened on the field, they came off second best in a hastily re-arranged friendly with Kingstonian.

Losing by 152 runs always sounds like it’s been a long, hard day, but there were still plenty of reasons to be positive. The visitors posted 244-8 on what is clearly becoming a decent batting surface at Broom Road. Zafar Ali stood out for the Ts; 3-13 off 8 when the visitors are posting that sort of score is a very impressive performance. Nitin Parab also picked up three wickets … although with 63 more runs in the conceded column!

The Ts' reply started slowly. Well, make that disastrously; 8-4 after 5 overs. Given that, fighting on to post 92 all out was a decent effort. Paul McLoughlin was the Berlin Wall in the middle of that with 27 not out. James Foster also showed plenty of stickability.

Despite the defeat, stand in skipper Phil Walker was nonetheless pleased with the day; “The track played well, the tea was decent and the sun shone”. Plus, intriguingly, “we may well have also picked up an international cricketer from St Lucia in to the bargain”. Rest assured, Phil, Hinay Dassani will ensure he still has to spend at least 9 weeks proving himself in the 4ths!

Today sees both the Sunday XI in action (at Hampton Hill, see here) and also the MDL team kick off their 2019 campaign (see here for more on that). Go well, fellas.