Twickenham CC continued their run of strong performances of late with two wins, two winning draws and just the one defeat as the MCCL season reached its half way point. The twos and the fours were the stars of the Week 9 show, although both the ones and the fives will count themselves unlucky not to have come away from their respective contests with 12 points. Only the threes had a bad day at the office, but that was against top of the table Hornsey III.

Nielson rolls back the years for the twos
The twos set the tone with an impressive 74 run win at Hornsey's second string (see here for the card).

In Week 8 there were runs galore scored on the Green as the twos had the better of a winning draw against North London. Different story this week. Bowlers were very much on top as the Ts (relatively easily) defended 138.

The Ts' batting centred round the returning Sanjit Sandhu. His 62 (off 67 balls) was, in the context of the game, worth plenty more. Sami Shori (22 off 23) and Ethan Wright (20 off 36) also chipped in, with Niall Perfect (3-27) and Jacob Rose (3-28) leading the way for the Tivoli Roaders.

The Hornsey bowlers bowled pretty well, to which the Ts' attack simply said 'hold my beer'. Wily old Greg Nielson took 4-13 on his first outing of the season, whilst Callum Wilson raced in and caused havoc later on. He ended with 3-5 off 27 balls. That all made Blake van der Linde's 2-18 at the beginning seem rather tame somehow.

Only two Hornsey players got into double-figures, and only Mitchell George (31 off 61) looked anything like at home. Hornsey were eventually all out for 64.

That win sees the 2s jump above Hornsey and move into third place (see here). Far from the worst place to be as we move into the second half of the season.

Mehran Iqbal claims 5 as the 4s carry on their good form
The fours were equally as ruthless in putting Ealing Trailfinders to the sword (see here for the card). Given that Trailfinders were previously top of the log that made the whole performance even more impressive.

Mehran Iqbal was again very much at the centre of things. He went merrily inducking away and ended with 5-33 to his name. Hinay Dassani (2-16 off 10.4) and Tapan Kumar (2-11 off 7) also helped out along the way.

Chasing small totals, in this case 110, can become hazardous if batters aren't right on it. Nothing to worry about on that score here. Openers Steve Cowley and Liam Tebb both got 24, number three Saul Croxford added a healthy 17. That then left Karandeep Singh (41no) and Shah Bozdar (6no) to get the 4s over the finishing line.

The win now see Hinay Dassani's side move into second place (see here). Indeed, they are just a couple of points behind leaders Chiswick 4s. Decent stuff.

McKenzie so close to tweaking the ones to victory
The ones remain unbeaten although they'll be a little disappointed that their 100 per cent record is now a thing of the past. They had much the better of a winning draw against Barnes (see here for the card).

The game was marred by a nasty injury to Kyle Hooper, one of the Barnes players. He did some pretty gruesome damage to his leg whilst attempting to field a ball the boundary. The order came through from the health professionals that he wasn't to be moved; a long(ish) wait for an ambulance ensued.

Once Jenkins was carefully helped off the ground and indeed off to A & E play could restart. 13 overs had been lost along the way.

That led Twickenham, again inspired by Carlos Nunes (78 off 85), to deck after 44 overs with 197 on the board.

Barnes lost Alex Scott early, but at 43-1 they were most certainly in the game. Gurjit Sandhu then had Ross Talmage caught behind for 26 (27 balls), before Barnes once more fought their way back into it. 79-2 and Barnes were well set.

The introduction of Chinaman bowler Gus McKenzie got Twickenham back ahead of the game. He ended with 5-28 as Twickenham did all they could to try and eek out a win. Tyler Grainger-Balding (17no off 58) and Tom Bale (17no off 31) nonetheless dug in and preserved what could be a very important point for Barnes. The Ts settled for five.

Fifths battle impressively
Going into the last two overs of the 5th XI's game against Brentham fours all four results were theoretically possible. The Ts needed two wickets to win, Brentham needed 24 runs; wins, defeats, draws and indeed a tie were therefore all plausible (see here for the card).

Skipper Jon Bosier led from the front with the bat, hitting an impressive 40 as the Ts put 206 on the board. Bosier, Sourav Salgotra (a spirited 49 off 92) and Lloyd Townsend (a fiery 42 off 29) did their best to pepper unsuspecting folks playing tennis in the tennis courts (at long on). Townsend also tonked a magnificent six over cover as the fives' batting line up really came to the party.

Cam Allen looked good in the middle order, whilst old warhorse Dan Hough compelled unsuspecting partners to get their rocket boosters on and force the pace in terms of pinching singles. Rajesh Kerai (7-47) was far and away the stand out bowler for Brentham.

Brentham rode their luck at times with the bat, as the wicket started to reveal ever more gremlins. Abdul Shukkoor (30) took a couple of hits up top before Townsend removed him caught and bowled. Skipper Krushna Kerai looked potentially dangerous at five before Paul McLoughlin swooped from mid on and hurled the stumps down from fully 20 yards. It was a great piece of fielding and it set the Ts up for a charge towards 12 points.

Puneet Sahota was the man who did most to try and get the Ts home; he ended with an impressive 4-48. At the other end skipper Bosier took it upon himself to try and snatch the last few wickets. He kept getting agonisingly close, including in the last over when Brentham were nine down. Alas, it was not to be. The 5s settled for five points and a winning draw.

Threes have no answer to nine-wicket Adrian Fawdon at Hornsey
The only Twickenham side to return pointless to the pavilion were the threes (see here for the card).

Hornsey IIIs are a decent outfit and they are gunning for promotion, so no shame in coming off second best to them. George Croton (69 off 55) lead the way for the hosts, Frankie Lingemann (2-36) was in the wickets for the Ts.

Dominic Thamby (31no off 50) and Ollie George (30 off 48) did their best to dig in and take the strain, but the evergreen Adrian Fawdon claimed what must surely be the best bowling figures in the MCCL this week (and quite possibly this year). He ended with 9-25. Respect due.

The threes now sit third bottom (see here), but they'll know that they have enough in the tank to push on and starting moving back up the ladder. Bring on next week.