Availability traumas beset the Twickenham MDL side on 12 July. So much so that as the first ball was bowled at Hampton Hill on Sunday only nine hardy souls had made it to the start line. Problem? Apparently not! Twickenham chased down 203 and won by five wickets (see here for the card).

Solid bowling from the Ts
Before the weekend Hampton Hill had played three and won three. The Ts, meanwhile, had won one game via concession (Wycombe House were the opponents there) but had lost their other two contests (see here for the table). It was all beginning to look like it was going to be a tough day at the office for the Ts.

Erm, no. That's not exactly how things panned out at all.

Hampton Hill won the toss, had a bat, and got things moving nicely. Jake Wood hit a half century at three (51no off 57), Louis Juniper (61no off 52) carried on in the same vein at six. Decent stuff.

The Ts did nonetheless stop things from getting out of control. Skipper All Jennings bowled nicely at the top (0-21 off 7), as did Max Hunt (1-33 off 9). The evergreen Dom Thamby gave little away (1-15 off 5) while leg spinner Matt Parker snuffled a couple of wickets at the end.

Hampton Hill closed on 203.

Oliver Prescott-Brann rises to the challenge
Would the nine men in green be able to chase that down? One thing was for sure; they were not going to die not knowing.

Hamish Johnston and the indomitable Barty Boyd got things moving, and they did so in double quick time. Johnston departed (13 at a run a ball) earlier than he may well have liked, but the score was already 28 and he left in over 5. Boyd, meanwhile, carried merrily on, cracking eight boundaries on his way to 40.

Boyd departed with the score on 58. So, still a fair way to go. If the Ts were going to get anywhere close to their target then they needed a big partnership. Syed Mehdi and Oliver Prescott-Brann rose to that particular challenge very nicely.

Mehdi added 51 (72 balls), as the two put on 110. It was nonetheless Prescott-Brann who really caught the eye. He smoked 12 boundaries on his way to an undefeated 71 (58 balls). Ably assisted by Dom Thamby (9no off 19), the Ts subsequently got home with something to spare. Marvellous stuff.