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Week 10; Saturday Review

Week 10; Saturday Review

Dan Hough14 Jul 2019 - 03:11
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Two wins, two draws and one solitary defeat for the Ts in a tough weekend of fixtures

Praween Siriwardena eats so much yoghurt that I think he'll soon be sponsored by Mueller!
- Uzzi Khan

The fixture calendar threw up a tough round of fixtures for the Ts in Week 10. Two of the five Ts’ opponents were top of their respective divisions, whilst two more were competing for those top slots. Only the 4th XI faced a side that wasn’t in the top four, but given that Hinay Dassani’s men have brushed all-comers aside this season they were the one Twickenham side who really didn’t care who they played.

Alarm! Victory over Teddington. I repeat, victory over Teddington
Although the 4th XI also won, the 1st XI were the undoubted stars of the show. Never has a Twickenham skipper walked off the Green having claimed maximum points in a league game against Teddington. Indeed, only once has that ever happened at Bushy Park (the seconds won there in 2013). 2019 saw that change (see here for the card).

Teddington won the toss and had a bat. That made sense. The logic went that facing Twickenham’s spin twins (Parminder and Abhi Singh) was only likely to get more difficult as the day wore on.

Focussing on the Singhs was all well and good, but in Gurjit Sandhu Twickenham had an opening bowler with 30 wickets in professional cricket to his name. Sandhu (2-38) duly started the ball rolling by removing both openers.

The rest of the show was nonetheless dominated by spin, and Parminder (3-83) and Abhi (4-66) wheeled away to excellent effect. That having been said, Charl Malan (51no) caused a degree of carnage at the end, hitting rapid fire boundaries has he put on 41 for the final wicket with Euan Murphy (0 not out). That led Teddington to declare on 227-9 with 64 overs gone.

In reply Rhys Davies went early and Phil Nash departed for 9. Scott Newman (59 off 70 balls) and Don Manuwelge nonetheless counter-attacked with intent. Manuwelge in particular is a man who’s returned to prime form over the last few weeks, playing big knocks in tight games. Saturday was another fine example of that.

Manuwelge ultimately fell for 80 (118 balls) but by then the Ts were well on their way to victory. Ben Leale-Green (31) and Carlos Nunes (29no off 35) kept their nerve, seeing Twickenham home by 5 wickets with 7 balls to spare.

The win moves the Ts one place up to 7th (see here) with a gap of 15 points to 9th placed Finchley (who impressively swept the board with Richmond).

Yoghurt-driven success for the 4s
The fours were the other winners on Saturday, brushing Teddington 4th XI aside by 125 runs. The fact that the Ts batted first also ensured they took home 12 points rather than 10. A nice bonus.

Colin Blunden (77) and Nihal Tomar (71no) were the stars of the batting show, although Jude Glasson (4-59) did his best to rein them in. Hinay Dassani opted to bat the full 50 available, posting an imposing 239-8.

In reply Teddington never really got going. Last week’s batting star, Praween Siriwardena, powered by ready supplies of yoghurt, this week showed his bowling prowess; 4-11 off 5 and the Ts were soon registering another notch in the wins column. Stu Amos chipped in with a couple of poles to help Praween out, whilst Nisar Abidi and Fahrier Hasan also made an impact.

A defeat for Acton against South Hampstead now leaves the Ts 19 points clear of second place and a mammoth 34 points ahead of Indian Gym in third (see here for the table). Monumentally impressive from the 4s.

Twos take the strain
The twos only took one point from their game against second placed Indian Gym. The hosts put 239-8 on the board, declaring after 50 overs. Aditya Archiya, Indian Gym’s superstar second team overseas player, helped himself to 57. Lewis Mitchard (2-37) and particularly Tom Field (5-74) did their best to stem the flow.

Chasing down that sort of target against a good side on a slow track was always going to be tough. The fact that Aditya bowled the lion’s share of the overs made that task even more difficult.

In those sorts of circumstances you dig in. Start solid and then see what happens. Sanjit Sandhu, playing within walking distance of his own back garden, opened up with 31, and Ethan Wright (batting at three) bedded in for a solid 52.

With 240 slipping well out of reach it was nonetheless left to skipper Eugene Berger (49no) to see the ship home and secure the losing draw.

The draw sees the Ts slip to 6th (see here), 20 points behind Indian Gym in second place. But, on the flip side, 20 points is easily made up. Play good cricket and the points tend to come to you. There’s subsequently still plenty to play for.

5ths hold league leaders
The fifths could tell a similar story from their game with Harrow St Mary’s 4ths .

Oliver Dawood was the star of the HSM batting show, helping himself to a delightful 112. Waleed Khan (53) also contributed a nice half-century as Vijay Sanas – steaming in from the longest run up in the division – did his very best to rein the visitors in. Sanas’s 6-54 was well-deserved. Young Anthony Jones also left an impressive calling-card, claiming a very respectable 2-35 off 7.

Even though the Ts have been batting well of late, chasing 250 against top-of-the-table opponents was always going to be a tough task. The rare sight of Andy Donelan (19) and Jonty Hunt (1) failing didn’t help as the T soon realised that the losing draw might be the most realistic aim.

Jonny Bosier (26no) breezed his way towards that target, but others took a more sanguine approach; Jones (14) and skipper Chris Wylde (14no) were the next top scorers as the Ts settled for 1 point.

The draw sees the Ts slip down to 7th in the table (see here), but HSM will beat most sides they play. That point may well end up being a point gained rather than a point lost.

Thirds bowl well, bat less well
The 3rd XI had what ultimately was a disappointing day against Ealing 3s.

Ealing are a crack outfit at this level and were justifiably top of the league. Bowling them out for 157 was subsequently an excellent effort. Kit Wilson led the way taking five wickets while Anu Agarwal removed three more. The Ts dined in quietly confident mood.

In reply, the Ts looked to dig in. But, Ealing, to their credit, clearly weren’t going to give up without a fight. By the time the last pair, Ali Jennings and Kit Wilson, were at the crease 18 were needed to win off 10 overs. There was hope. But ultimately it’s the hope that dies last and Ealing squeaked home by 16 runs.

The defeat leaves Twickenham slip to 6th (see here). There now appears to effectively be two leagues within a league in division two, and the Ts are at the top of the lower league. Getting back in to the ‘top tier’ is going to be a challenge but so is climbing Mount Everest; you get there by getting to base camp first and then moving on when the time’s right. One thing is for sure; Steve Watts is well and truly on the task.

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