The Twickenham U10s continued their sparkling early season form with an impressive triumph against near-neighbours Richmond B (see here for the card).

Slow start, impressive finish
The sun shone, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the cricket proved very entertaining; if Carlsberg did evenings of junior cricket, it'd almost certainly look something like this.

Twickenham lost the toss and Richmond had little hesitation in asking the Ts to bat. After eight overs Richmond had the upper hand; Hugo Slade (2-6 off 2) and Rhys Bennett (2-19) made decent inroads, whilst Mikey Deeley (1-6 off 2) and Ivo Ellis (just the five off his two overs) also bowled nicely.

The Ts needed to launch a fightback. And, that they most definitely did. Stan and Vince Hough went in as the third pair, and they immediately upped the ante. They hit four boundaries apiece and ran like a pair of whippets on steroids.

The twons' partnership of 42 was impressive, but the following four batters all rose to the challenge of matching it. James Marsh (22 off 14) caught the eye, although Faris Iqbal played his part in what was a partnership of 45. Harvir Ghere (9 off 13) and the in form Jaden Mate (18 off 12) then finished things off impressively.

The Ts had scored 161, their highest ever total. That set Richmond 317 to win.

Sparking fielding, straight bowling
Richmond knew that they'd have to bat well to get anywhere near that total. Their innings ebbed and flowed, Harry Nichol (14 off 13) being the stand out performer.

However, once Nichol departed the Ts slowly turned the screw. Max Fernandes (1-14 off 2) grabbed his first wicket on Twickenham Green (a delightful little inswinger that went through bat and pad), whilst Jaden Mate was his usual metronomic self (2-9 off 2).

The Ts also did their cause no harm with some excellent fielding. 'Keeper Stan Hough danced five yards to his right, flung his keeping glove off and hurled the stumps down from about 15 yards. Impressive stuff.

James Marsh, however, evidently saw that and thought "ok, someone hold my can of coke....". He picked a ball up nicely at wide mid on and knocked the stumps over. Given he had only one stump to aim at that was top draw stuff.

The Ts carried the good work on with good bowling at the end. Marsh was unlucky to end with just the one wicket, leaving partner-in-crime Vince Hough to swing the pink ball into the stumps on three occasions. His 3-9 off 3 was well deserved.

The Ts subsequently ended 42 runs in front. That leaves the Ts 20 points ahead of both Barnes and Roehampton (see here for the table) on the league ladder. That in turn makes Twickenham's next game even more interesting; Barnes visit the Green on Friday 23 May.