For the second time in 48 hours the Twickenham U10s locked horns with Roehampton. On Monday 2 June the two sides met on the Green in the south area cup QF, on Wednesday 4 June they met in the league at St Paul's School in Barnes (see here for the card). Roehampton won the first thriller of a game by five runs. They won the league contest, too, although this time the margin was a little more comfortable.

Shuffling of the pack
The Ts knew that they had a task on their hands in repeating the performance that they put in on Monday. James Marsh and Jaden Mate, two of the star performers in the knickergripper of a cup contest, were away, meaning that the Ts travelled just a bit light down the A316. The ten intrepid souls who did play had little choice but to re-group and see what they could do.

Roehampton, for their part, also shuffled the pack, although their star performer, the impressive Rohan Lakhani, was most definitely still there. He looks a class act, definitely one to keep an eye on.

Ts put 259 on the board
This time around the Ts won the toss (James Penrose exhibiting excellent rock, paper, scissors skills) and they had little hesitation in having a bat. Jack Baran and Austin Tilzey opened up and for the most part looked pretty solid; they were only out once between them and they nudged and nurdled the ball around where they could.

Twins Stan and Vince Hough went in next. They applied a bit of rocket-fuel to the innings, putting on 43 without any change to the wickets column. Hough (S) (17 off 12) drove impressively, whilst Hough (V) (19 off 12) hit a couple of short balls nicely square for boundaries.

Once the Houghs departed, Roehampton wrestled back the initiative. Rohit Sharma (no, not that one!) twirled away impressively, and he was good value for his 3-2. Skipper Lakhani also chipped in with a couple of wickets, Vedant Sinha conceded just three from his two overs and speedster Harvey Lee also ended with two wickets to his name.

Twickenham's last pair of Harvir Ghere and Faris Iqbal nonetheless got Twickenham north of 250 and gave the bowlers something to work with. Ghere punched the ball impressively straight, Iqbal, meanwhile, had a touch of the Zaheer Abbas (if you're under 40, just google him) about some of the shots he produced. They ensured the innings finished on a high.

Jack Baran mutates into Jimmy Anderson
Twickenham knew that defending 259 was going to be a tough ask, but they still warmed to their task impressively.

Man of the match on the Twickenham side, Jack Baran, opened the bowling and immediately started doing Jimmy Anderson impressions. At times the ball was swinging prodigiously and Baran caused all of the batters problems. He was excellent value for his 2-9 (off 3 overs).

Roehampton nonetheless kept the score moving and soon came up to the Twickenham total. Aidan Emmerson (14 off 11) and Luca D'Adhemar (11 off 13) went at a decent clip, as did Aarav Tayal (11 off 15).

But, as the innings wore on the Ts did manage to put something of a brake on the scoring rate. Harvir Ghere, bowling decent off spin, chipped in with a wicket, as did the irrepressible Massimo Constantopoulos. Jonty Thornton bounced back from a tricky first over to bowl a much better second one, whilst Austin Tilzey did enough to make the batsmen think.

The Ts also started holding on to catches. Vince Hough grabbed one, Stan Hough grabbed two and Faris Iqbal held on to another. Max Fernandes also did all he could to grab on to a real flier at cover....no complaints there though, it was great to see the hands high and him giving it a go. Throw in a run out and the Ts were doing an excellent job of reining the hosts in a little.

Lakhani, batting last, nonetheless came in and looked good value for his 14 (11 balls), but it was fitting that Baran returned to grab another wicket and Vince Hough knocked the sticks over with the very last ball of the innings. The Ts had come second, but, much as had been the case on Monday, cricket was very much the winner.

Roehampton's win takes them top of the table (see here), but the Ts are well placed to end up second. Four league games to see how that all ultimately ends up.....