On Monday 13 July the Twickenham U10s did what they hope England will do against Argentina on Wednesday night; they won a cup semi-final. What will be will be in terms of England, but Twickenham eased into the box seat early in their game against Sunbury before ultimately cruising home in emphatic style (see here for the card).

Straight bowling, crisp catching, snappy fielding
One of the major challenges of organising junior sport is availability. So, when it became apparent that Twickenham were going to be able to field exactly the same XI that had beaten Richmond in the quarter-final life most definitely got a bit easier. The Ts subsequently went into their contest with Sunbury with hope and just a little expectation.

That expectation was most definitely well placed. Vince Hough (1-7 off 2) got the ball rolling by bowling the dangerous Cheith Pathiranage with the score on 11. To be fair to Sunbury, they then enjoyed their most productive part of the game. Andrew Cross (23 off 24) and Varin Sanapati (18 off 23) put on 49 as the visitors moved seamlessly to 60-1.

It was at that point that things started to go wrong for the visitors. Quinn Kedzlie (1-9) took the important wicket of Vanapati before Stan Hough tweaked and twirled his way to 2-9 off 3. Shout out there to Vince Hough for taking a thunder bolt of a catch at short extra cover. The Ts were clawing back control.

That became ever more apparent when Sammy Allen caught and bowled the hard-hitting Henry Anstiss before Jack Baran - AGAIN - ran out someone from long stop. This time it was the dangerous Seymu Thommadura (17 off 21).

101-6 wasn't where Sunbury wanted to be, but things then proceeded to get a whole lot worse. James Petrou (0-4) gave little away, Gus Joyce (0-6) and Noah de Vos (0-10) kept things very much on the straight and narrow.

It was Faris Iqbal (2-12 off 3) who caused most mayhem, bowling George Hack-Davies before having his twin brother William caught by one of the other twins on the pitch, Mr Hough (V), at short mid-wicket. With Jack Baran pouching a crisp caught and bowled and an intriguing Quinn Kedzlie/Jonty Thornton combo impressively running out last man Agam Behniwal, the Ts were looking at 114 to win.

Thornton and Allen lead the way with the bat
The Ts would most definitely have accepted 114 as a target before play started, and five overs in that became even more apparent. Sam Allen and particularly Jonty Thornton started like men on a mission.

With five overs gone Twickenham's version of Greenidge and Haynes (google them) had seen to it that 49 runs were on the board. Thornton in particular looked in fine fettle, pinging one delicious straight drive over the bowlers head for four, and pulling anything short merrily to the boundary.

A steady flow of extras certainly helped Twickenham's cause, but by the time Thornton retired (30 off 33) 88 runs were on the board and the Ts found themselves needing just 26 to win.

Allen continued to work the ball into the gaps and the only real surprise was when he missed one and was bowled for 26 (36 balls). An excellent knock, ended by what was in truth a gem of a googly from Thommadura.

That left Stan Hough and Faris Iqbal with less than half a dozen needed. They knocked those off with a minimum of fuss. Job done.

The Ts now move on to meet Hampton Hill in the final, date and venue to be confirmed in the next 24/48 hours. Exciting times.