Twickenham's U10s came off second best in their attempt to win the Middlesex South U10 Cup. A strong Hampton Hill side were just that bit more effective with both bat and ball and deservedly ran out clear winners (see here for the card).

Two upstart finalists
Junior cup finals in Middlesex South tend to be fought out between a group of the usual suspects. It's fair to say that neither Twickenham nor Hampton Hill would generally qualify as one of that group. So, it was with quite some anticipation that both sets of U10s took to Twickenham Green on Bank Holiday Monday to battle it out for the honour being the 2026 cup winners.

Both sides had looked impressive in getting there. Hampton Hill brushed Sheen Park aside in the last 16 (see here), convincingly beat Indian Gym in the quarter finals (see here) and then swept past Teddington in the semi final (see here).

Twickenham, meanwhile, beat Barnes in the last 16 (walkover), before impressively beating Richmond in the quarter final (match report here on that one). They then followed that up by beating Sunbury by nine wickets in the semi-final (full lowdown on that one here). So, two sides that very much deserved to meet other other in the final.

Ts battle gamely with the bat
With the Royal Box (cleverly disguised as a bench under one of the trees on the Hampton Road) vacant and no one having a copy of Abide With Me to hand, the players simply got on with the game.

Twickenham had first hit and it wasn't long before they were on the back foot. Both Jonty Thornton, the leading run scorer in the competition, and Sam Allen were back in the shack before they'd had a chance to get going - Blaire Rouse and Patrick Shaw claimed their scalps.

9-2 and the Twickenham middle order subsequently had a bit of work to do. Stan Hough (21 off 26) timed the ball nicely, hitting the boundary three times, while Faris Iqbal (15 off 19) eased the ball into the gaps and kept the scoreboard moving.

At 47-2 the Ts were looking well set to post a decent total. But, disaster then struck. Hough (S) was deceived by a slower one from Finn Cranston and Iqbal was run out thanks to a deadeye throw from Patrick Shaw at cover. The Ts were reeling (again).

Vince Hough, ever one to enjoy a crisis, hit his first ball for four before driving imperiously through extra cover for four more. He was not going down without a fight.

But, wickets did nonetheless keep falling. Toby Akhter was very much at the centre of that, claiming three wickets for one run while Hugo Welsh and Harry Hampton also joined the wicket-taking party.

Once Hough (V) departed, Gus Joyce nonetheless dug in impressively. He faced 25 balls in trying to eek out every run possible; indeed, he put on 20 with James Petrou as the Ts battled gamely to 86.

Tough task for Twickenham's bowlers
86 was certainly fewer than Twickenham wanted, but games have been won with fewer runs than that. Indeed, next week Middlesex's Shepherd's Bush go head-to-head with New Farnley from Bradford in the National Knockout final. Or, in layman's language, they are battling for the honour of being the best club side in the country.

Why mention it here? Just a few short weeks ago Twickenham's senior first XI scored 78 against The Bush. Shay Boo's response? 77 all out.....if potentially the best club side in Britain can fail to get 78 runs then so can everyone else.

Indeed, when Jack Baran bowled the dangerous Blair Rouse with the second ball of the innings the Ts really did think that a miracle might be happening. The Ts went on the attack, searching for more scalps, and, sure enough, Harry Hampton chipped one to mid-wicket...only for the chance to go down.

Hampton, who'd bowl very well earlier in the day, wasn't going to waste the opportunity he was given. He batted nicely, eventually retiring on 32 (27 balls).

A bit of slapstick running did lead to Vince Hough throwing down the stumps and running out Patrick Shaw, but that wasn't enough to halt the Hampton Hill juggernaut. Murtaza Momin, Gus Joyce and Faris Iqbal all did what they could with the ball, but Jimmy Rouse (8no off 9) and the calm and collected Elijah Chow (9no off 13) saw the visitors home.

Thanks to all those who came along to watch - a big crowd, offering support in exactly the right way. Well done, too, to all the players; a game played in an excellent spirit between two decent sides. Good stuff!