The indomitable fives led the way for Twickenham on Saturday 25 July, pocketing 12 hard earned points against a spirited Chiswick side. The fours also put in some hard yakka, but they found themselves ultimately settling for five points from a winning draw against Actonians. The ones, twos and threes all had days that, in varying ways, they'll look to move on from.

Parker and Salgotra get the job done for the 5s
Jonny Bosier's fifth XI are rapidly turning into the success story of the season. They currently sit second in Division 6A of the third tier (see here) and that on the back of seven straight wins. Can they catch Teddington 4s and win the title? Well, that's out of their hands, but they'll certainly do all they can to make it happen.

The skipper himself has unfortunately been struggling with injury, so he's been consigned to a lucozade carrying role on the sidelines. And, respect due to him for that; Bosier has been there and lived every minute of the games he's not been able to play.

As far as Saturday went, the Ts put in a solid all round performance (see here for the card). Barty Boyd set the tone with a belligerent 70 (72 balls) at the top, Sourav Salgotra helped things along nicely at three.

The pitch, of course, was as dry at the Gobi Desert so shooters were always a possibility. Sure enough, Cam Allen - who was again looking good - became victim number one as a ball rocketed along about 1cm above the ground. His 17 (off 23) nonetheless kept things moving.

Two of Twickenham's old warhorses, Dan Hough (36 off 51) and Liam Tebb (20 off 29), then put on an entertaining 50 together (54 balls) with Tebb in particular mutating into Jos Buttler at one point; four fours in an over, and sharp running to boot. Excellent stuff.

The Ts were subsequently moving smoothly towards an eminently respectable total. Before the close came a bit of unexpected entertainment nonetheless found itself on the menu. Poor old Pete Burke pulled an abductor muscle going for a single to mid off. Cue Matt Parker's - a man who contributed a breezy 16 off 12 balls earlier - return as a runner.

Given that runners seem passe these days, there was a feeling that those involved were never far from a calamity moment. Burke, old enough to have seen it all before, took control and batted 21 balls before Prasad More claimed his sixth and final wicket (6-66 off 18) and the Ts closed on 218.

Chiswick started their chase positively, Jeremy Wellard in particular looking like he meant business. He hit five fours before, in what was one of the key moments in the game, he picked out Matt Parker at cover and departed for 22 (23 balls). Rishabh Gulati was the bowler there and it was the in-form speedster who then moved Frank Brazell at three (10 off 31), Liam Tebb taking a somehow loopy caught behind.

Chiswick weren't scoring many runs, but wickets were still only falling slowly. The Ts needed a change of tone. As ever at times like this, the ball was thrown to Sourav Salgotra. Some bowlers are just golden arms, and Salgotra is one of those. Sure enough, he bowled Aadi Konidena with a slower ball that bounced nearer the bowler's toes than the batter's. But, they all count....

Stand in skipper Lloyd Townsend had bowled admirably at opener Michael Redfern in particular and figures of 11-7-12-0 show how hard Townsend was to get away. But Redfern was proving very obdurate (he was 2no off 83 balls at one point) and the Ts had to find a way to get rid of him.

Plan C kicked in. Slow the pace down, give it a tweak. Cam Allen came on from the Richmond End, but it was Matt Parker alongside him who did the real damage. He tweaked and twirled to great effect, removing Redfern (11 off 98), Michael Parkyn without scoring and then the rather more outgoing Raj Chana (16 off 24). All bowled, all deceived by the flight and guile.

The only question now was whether the Ts could eek out those final wickets. Prasad More became Parker's fourth victim, Harry Tebb then removed the dangerous Dan Hayward. Five truly terrible deliveries and then a nice full toss that Hayward hammered to Parker at cover. At some point on Sunday someone will need to check in with Hayward to make sure he's ok.....

It was, however, the golden arm himself, Salgotra, who finished the job off. He claimed the final two wickets to end with figures of 7.5-6-4-3. Quite something.

Fours pile on the runs, but settle for winning draw
The fours didn't win, but they still put in a strong performance (see here for the card).

If the fours have a stronger suit, then there's a case to be made that it's their impressive bowling line up. In their fixture against Actonians' 4s it was nonetheless the batting that really stood up while the bowlers couldn't quite get the Ts over the line.

Andy Donelan, a man who is quietly enjoying a renaissance (maybe it's the added responsibility of being the club's safeguarding officer that's done it, who knows...), started things off impressively, hitting 44 (off 61 at the top). The newly zestful and invigorated Holger Kriess kept the score moving along at three (26 off 60), but it was the ebullient Milan Gurjal (51 off 48) who started to go through the gears.

Frankie Lingeman followed that lead impressively, ending on 70no (off 72) as the Ts closed on 270. Shout out to Tom Petrides (28 off 26 including one big six) and Eijaz Mahmood (12no off 9) for helping Lingeman along.

In reply Actonians never really got going and it soon became clear that a losing draw was the height of their ambitions. Ryan Simpson (52 off 77) held strong in the middle, Shiv Butt (58 off 83) stood tall with him.

Hinay Dassani, ever-willing, did all he could to push the game along (5-49), but somehow the wickets never came quickly enough. Five points to the Ts, one to Actonians.

Ones battle gamely but it's not to be
Elsewhere, the story was less positive.

The ones certainly gave it all they had and were indeed just 11 balls away from securing a losing draw. But, the bottom line is that next week's game against North Midd looks like a big one. Win that and the race for survival is back on. Lose and the Ts will have a long way to come back.

As far as Saturday went, the classy Ben Middlemas put 85no (153 balls) on the board for Richmond as they posted 270 before decking after 61 (see here for the card). Skipper Carlos Nunes again went through the pain barrier, getting through 18 overs to claim 2-49. Ali Jennings also picked up his first premier league wicket, while Ollie White, Akash Multani and Faf Fourie also made forays into the wickets column.

The Twickenham response certainly included moments of optimism. Faf Fourie batted positively at the top, helping himself to 76 (off 92). And, at 107-1 the Ts were in a decent position.

But, James Nelson (4-36) and Charles Nelson (3-41) kept chipping away and that meant Richmond ultimately got home with an over and a bit to spare.

Threes already thinking about Week 13
The threes went into Saturday in pretty positive mood. They left Saturday wanting very much to focus on Week 13.

Imran Niazai (34 off 73) was the cornerstone of Twickenham's 110, but no one else - skipper Robbie Bosier to one side (20no off 26) - really managed to get in (see here for the card). Three run outs didn't help....

Stanmore 3s are having a good season and they weren't going to miss out on the chance to claim ten points (see here for the league table). Shaurya Tanna (48no of 78) anchored things nicely as they got home with eight wickets to spare.

The threes move on.

Vishvanath and Mehdi can't quite hold out for the twos
The twos are in many ways in the same boat as the threes.

They went into their game with Richmond IIs hopeful that they could continue their move away from the lower reaches of the 2nd XI premier league (see here for the table). That'll have to wait until next week.

Still, they remain nine points ahead of Brondesbury (who were walloped by Stanmore) and 18 ahead of Hampstead (who came off second best against champions-elect Teddington). There is most definitely still hope.

As far as Saturday went, Richmond batted first and very much enjoyed making use of a pristine batting surface on Twickenham Green. They put 306 on the board before declaring on 45.

In response, the Ts never looked like getting anywhere near that target. Soon, thoughts were on trying to bat 55 overs to at least get something out of the game. Nakul Vishvanath and Syed Mehdi stood up to be counted, but eventually Richmond got where they needed to go.

So, a week with more downs than ups, but such is the way life goes. Bring on Week 13.