The Twickenham U11s' first league win of the season has taken a long time coming. However, when it finally did arrive it was well worth the wait. The Ts came out on top in what proved to be a highly entertaining encounter with Teddington. Indeed, Teddington deserve plenty of credit, too; it takes, as they say, two to tango, and the visitors from Bushy Park played their part in what was an excellent game of cricket (see here for the card).

Solid batting all the way down from the Ts
Twickenham won the toss and, as is their way, opted to have a bat. That decision looked a sound choice as James Marsh and Faris Iqbal put on 27 for the first wicket. Iqbal's departure did little to stem the scoring rate as the ever positive Sam Allen came in and boshed merrily away.

Marsh (27 off 23) was out with the score on 76, attempting to reach the retirement mark (30) with a six. And, he nearly did.... Edward Burnett taking an excellent catch above his head on the boundary to deny him.

Sammy Allen (30no off 31) and Stan Hough (32no off 25) did manage to get past the 30 marker, and their knocks set the Ts up to get well beyond 100.

Parker Bacall (0-4 off 2) nonetheless slowed the run rate down, while Connolly Dickinson tweaked and twirled merrily away. By this stage, incoming Twickenham batsmen had a licence to thrill. Vince Hough and Harry Kachel certainly understood what was needed, as did Jack Baran. All three ultimately fell on their swords, but they definitely had the right approach.

Ayoub Khokar, meanwhile, ran smartly and at times hit hard. His 17no (16 balls) helped the Ts get beyond 140, while Jonty Thornton came in and stroked the final ball of the innings for a decent two. Strike rate of 200, job done!

Drama to the end as the Ts squeeze home
Would 141 be enough? Right from the start of Teddington's reply it became clear that this could go right down to the wire.

James Marsh did get Twickenham out of the blocks quickly, yorking Josh Marlow early doors. But, Morgan Taylor (32no off 31) knuckled down and got things moving for the visitors, Rocco Kothakota (25 off 29) followed his lead. The two put on 56 and got Teddington very much back into it.

James Penrose then stepped up and changed the game's momentum. He prompted a false shot from Kothakota, Jonty Thornton showed nerves of steel and took the catch.

That 'in' was then jumped on by Stan Hough; he produced a caught and bowled to remove the dangerous Alex Bosher (by name and perhaps by nature, one would guess). Teddington were 62-3, and the game was finely poised.

Faris Iqbal and Sammy Allen claimed wickets, but that brought Connolly Dickinson and Joseph Edattukaran to the crease. They upped the tempo in terms of running, the Ts upped their game in terms of their fielding. It was getting to squeaky bum time.

Who would blink first? The answer was Teddington. Dickinson looked like he had a plan and he knew what he was doing, but he didn't reckon on Sammy Allen performing a juggling act that would have been appropriate in Zippo's circus when fielding at cover. Allen grabbed a sharp chance, then seemed to fumble it, before plucking the ball out of the air and keeping hold of it. The pendulum was swinging Twickenham's way.

James Marsh returned to dismiss Teddington's excellent skipper Parker Bacall, and with the light fading Teddington found themselves needing 36 off four overs. Cue a sense of bedlam, as ever more risky runs were taken and every sharper fielding came to the fore.

One person who deserves a particular mention is Teddington's Josh Marlow. He'd come on to field for the injured Jaden Mate (nasty blow on the boot). Edward Burnett took on Marlow's arm, but the ball fizzed its way in to 'keeper Stan Hough's gloves. Burnett was run out by four yards. And every respect to Marlow for playing such a straight bat (and indeed to Burnett for congratulating him on a super throw as he walked off). Those two will go far.

Be that as it may, Twickenham needed to defend 13 off the remaining five balls to win the game. Another dot ball followed, before Edattukaran called number 11 Larry Clapp through for a single off the third ball of the over. Clapp, however, was never going to make it; Stan Hough picked the ball up, pinged it to the non-striker's end and Clapp was run out by yards.

Twickenham won, but the much bigger story is that they had, for the first time in quite a while, played in a tight game that was played in the right spirit. In the great scheme of things, very much the main story here.