Three Twickenham sides took to the field on Saturday 1 May. And, they all came home with different results. The threes won, the twos lost and the ones were ultimately abandoned.

Ones' batters hit the ground running
The Twickenham CC 1st XI may not have been able to force the win against Weybridge, but they did everything but (see here for the card). The rain was the villain of the piece, but not before the Ts' batters had got runs on the board and the Ts' bowlers had caused chaos with the Weybridge top order.

The Ts batted first and piled on 254 off their allotted 40 overs. The Twickenham openers, Pat Dixon and Oliver White, both chipped in with 43 (off 43 and 40 balls respectively), before Don Manuwelge followed them in and contributed 60 (70 balls). Skipper Carlos Nunes then finished things off with a quickfire 32 (26 balls), Brent Kay (3-53) was the star turn for the hosts.

In reply, Weybridge lost skipper Heydir Ali early, Adam Mather snaring him caught behind. Mather (2-10 off 5) then removed Aidan Golding (caught and bowled) for 1 before Ollie White turned the screw with an impressive 3-11 off just shy of five.

By the time the rain came Weybridge were reeling at 67-7. So, match abandoned, but the Ts can be pleased with their efforts.

Twos lose out to Weybridge twos
The twos were also in the runs on the Green, but so were Weybridge (see here for the card).

Oliver Melville-Ross (60 off 66) and the ebullient Eugene Berger 53 off 57) were very much in the middle of things, James Smith chipped in with 36 (40 balls) at the top of the order. Luke McCarthy bowled nicely for Weybridge.

With batters retiring the Ts may well think that they could have put more on the board. But, it's pre-season, you give folks a whirl. Would 227 (off 40) be enough?

No, was the answer, but the Ts will have learnt plenty from their efforts in the field. Skipper Anthony Mackle was at the centre of the Weybridge reply; he helped himself to 70no off 90. Ansar Nooristani's rapid fire 69 (off just 34 balls) also helped rapidly shift the momentum.

Eugene Berger (3-51) chipped away, Blake van der Linde took a couple of poles (2-26) and Nishan Singh (1-33) was also in the wickets. But, to no avail, Weybridge squeezed home with four wickets to spare.

Threes win low-scoring affair against Mitcham 3s
Hinay Dassani, the bus-stop king, was again leading the threes and indeed again leading them impressively. The 3rd XI won by four wickets (see here for the card).

Mitcham had first hit, but they could only manage 104. Shah Bozdar was again on the money, he took the new ball and ended with 3-19 off 8. Eijaz Mahmood (2-38) able supported him, while Dassani gave northing away (four overs for just five runs). Essam Ali (3-30) then wrapped things up.

Would the Ts be adept at chasing the small total? Imran Nizai certainly wasn't going to die not knowing, he blasted 31 in double-quick time. Wickets were lost en route, but Shah Bozdar remained cool, calm and collected to steer the ship home. Excellent work.

So, pre-season is now done and dusted. The Ts move on to the 2026 league campaign.....

Photo. @jedleicesterphoto