Week 13 and slowly but surely we’re getting towards the business end of things. All five TCC sides have plenty to play for and there’s certainly no better time to hit a run of form than in August. It’s now that the destination of divisional gongs really gets sorted.

Ones travel to North Midd
The ones will be hitting the North Circular as they trek around to North Middlesex. But, they have at least been promised salmon for lunch so rain or no rain they are going to be well-catered for.

North Middlesex currently sit second, just one point behind leaders Ealing (see here). The Ts are joint seventh, but a 12 point win and all of a sudden they’ll only be 8 points behind Saturday’s opponents. There is, as they say, plenty to play for.

Carlos Nunes travels armed with a decent side. Abhi Singh will be back to spin his webs, whilst Ish Sohi will offer bowling of the more express variety. Josh Hinde keeps his place, whilst Ajmal Allahdad steps up from the twos. Gurjit Sandhu also makes a welcome return.

The team is Carlos Nunes, Ajmal Allahdad, Rhys Davies, Josh Hinde, Ben Leale-Green, Don Manuwelge, Scott Newman, Dave Russell, Gurjit Sandhu, Abhi Singh and Ish Sohi

Twos welcome Eastcote to the Green
Nine weeks ago the twos had rather an odd encounter at Eastcote. Rishi Kanjani ended up spending the afternoon in hospital and, with Sanjit Sandhu driving him there, the Ts spent most of the afternoon with just nine men to call on. They subsequently came a pretty clear second.

The Ts are nonetheless (just) ahead of Eastcote in the log and a win will see them getting ever closer to those promotion places (see here). Eugene Berger welcomes Mesome Hussain to the ranks for his second XI debut whilst Ethan Wright comes back in following a soujourn in the ones. Pushtak Arsikere and Lewis Mitchard offer options with both bat and ball, as does Sanjit Sandhu; fingers crossed that Sanj doesn’t have to be a stand-in ambulance driver again.

The team is Eugene Berger, Mo Ahmed, Pushtak Arsikere, Tom Field, Harry Grinstead, Mesome Hussain, Lewis Mitchard, Sanjit Sandhu, Dom Thamby, Nakul Vishvanath and Ethan Wright

3rds look to start making their move
The thirds welcome North Middlesex to St Mary’s. Steve Watts’s band of merry men currently sit nicely mid-table (see here), although Watts will no doubt be looking to make some headway northwards.

Geoff Stothert makes a welcome return to the side following some weeks gallivanting off elsewhere, whilst Kit Wilson also comes back in. Vedant Jain is also on UK shores again and he’s included, whilst Brandon Newman will certainly compliment what’s already a strong-looking bowling attack.

The full team is Steve Watts, Kev Cavilla, Connor Finney, Oli George, Tyler Hayden, Vedant Jain, Ali Jennings, Brandon Newman, Ozzie Qavi, Geoff Stothert and Kit Wilson.

4s in game of the day
The fourths arguably have the TCC game of the day; they travel to second-placed Acton. A win and the 4s are – even with five games left – all but assured of the league time; indeed, by 9pm on Saturday the 4s could plausibly have a 29 point lead at the top (see here).

Acton will certainly not be making life easy for them, but the fourths nonetheless have to go in to this fixture in confident frame of mind.

As ever, Hinay Dassani has a strong unit on which to call. Colin Blunden and Uzzi Khan will again be looking for top-order runs, whilst the not out king, Nihal Tomar, will be looking to embolden a growing reputation as a finisher. Alex Waddell also plays, showing that Dassani is not averse to giving youth a chance.

The full team is Hinay Dassani, Nisar Abidi, Colin Blunden, Hiran Dissanayake, Martin Fairn, Dave Jones, Uzzi Khan, Praween Siriwardena, Nihal Tomar, Chetan Ubale and Alex Waddell.

Fifths welcome Actonians
The fifths welcome Old Actonians to the green, green grass of Broom Road. Say it quietly, but the 5s are definitely looking upwards rather than downwards; they currently sit 5th, 10 points and two places behind Saturday’s opponents (see here). A win against Actonians and promotion momentum may just be developing.

Chris Wylde has a decent side on which to call. Zafar Ali is in decent nick with the bat whilst Anil Bhatt has proven a handful with the ball all year. The same can be said of Harmeet Singh, and that even though he ended up wicketkeeping for the sixth XI a couple of weeks ago. Both Lukes (Muraszko and Jefferies) will also be looking to show that they can show the more mature (and some of those mature players are indeed very mature indeed!) what they can do.

The team is Chris Wylde, Zafar Ali, Anil Bhatt, Jon Bosier, Andy Donelan, Jonty Hunt, Luke Jefferies, Anthony Jones, Luke Muraszko, Harmeet Singh and Phil Walker

All in all an intriguing day beckons. Go well, fellas.