It was a day of missed opportunities for the three top Twickenham sides. They all played Shepherd’s Bush, they all lost. But, for the twos and threes at least, there’s still reason to hope that they can win their relegation battles. The fours move smoothly up to fourth, the fifths gain their ten points without lifting a finger. The poor old ones are now destined to play Division One cricket in 2027, although Faf Fourie in particular didn’t go down without a fight.

Fourie channels his inner Sehwag
The ones have struggled all season. As has been well documented, injuries and unavailabilities have done them no favours.

So, when Shepherd’s Bush roll into town – a side in the semi-finals of the National Knockout – then it’s clear who the favourites are. That having been said, the Ts did beat the Bush earlier this season in one of the games of this or any other campaign. Would lightening strike twice?

Well, the answer was no, but for a while no one appeared to tell Faf Fourie (see here for the card). Even on a quiet day Fourie generally adopts the Virender Sehwag approach to opening the batting; if it’s up, it goes. Against the Bush he very much kept true to that, while also pulling anything even remotely short.

The end product was that he smashed a belligerent 92 (off just 38 balls), including 12 fours and the small matter of six sixes. Indeed, rumour has it one London bus is a little worse for wear on account of one of those sixes getting up close and personal with it.

Fourie’s whirlwind performance certainly got the Ts well ahead of the game in terms of run rates, but it couldn’t help wickets from falling at the other end. Still, Don Manuwelge (55 off 80) kept things moving forward, and Ali Jennings kept out 46 balls at the end to keep him company. Shay Boo needed 211 to win.

The Bush started nicely and always looked in control, openers Marcus Howard (28 off 39) and Sidney Thompson (22 off 20) getting them up and running. That set the visitors up to reach their target, but Twickenham did at least take five wickets along the way. Ali Jennings removed Howard (Nakul Vishvanath taking the catch), Faf Fourie bowled Thompson.

Akash Multani (1-33 off 10) bowled nicely, as did Don Manuwelge (1-38 off 8). Dru Shori also dismissed the highly rated Mitchell Crayn (52 off 65).

The defeat means the ones will indeed be playing Div 1 cricket in 2027. It’s been coming for a while so it’s not a surprise. Time to re-group and move on.

4s win and Liam Tebb takes on an intriguing new role
Elsewhere, the fours continued their charge up Div 4A of the third tier. They played bottom of the table Old Isleworthians and won by 113 runs (see here for the card).

The Ts had first hit and struggled gamely to 157. A tough pitch and some decent bowling meant that Eijaz Mahmood (44), Pete Burke (31) and Shah Bozdar (22no) did a lot of the heavy lifting there.

In reply, only two members of the Holy Trinity were needed to contribute; skipper Hinay Dassani and Mehran Iqbal. Shah Bozdar was left waiting like a coiled spring in the wings.

Kamesh Kumar (21) started brightly for Isleworthians, but it turned out he was just one shy of contributing half of his teams runs. Iqbal claimed 4-23 and the ever-reliable Dassani 6-19. A decent effort…..well, yes, but, for the record, it’s not even in the top five best performances of Dassani’s Twickenham career. The man really is a machine….

Elsewhere, Saturday was a big day for one of the Isleworthians’ players. Whilst out in the middle he gave his phone to Liam Tebb. Tebb was under strict instructions to let the player know if one particular person rang; the player’s mother.

Why? As she was in India and was on the search for a bride for her son. And, rumour had it that she had found one and was going to call her son to let him know the details. Right on cue, she did and indeed she sent a photo over. Tebb, the unwitting middleman in this process, was able to later report back that all sides were very happy indeed with how things marriage-wise (the Isleworthians’ player was probably less happy with his side being bowled out for 44) had panned out. Excellent stuff….

Rumours that Tebb will be offering such marriage-arranging services in future remain as yet unsubstantiated.

Fives win, but games are running out
One other Twickenham team did win on Saturday. The fives. They did so as Wycombe House 5s couldn’t raise a side. So, ten points to the Ts then.

That win means that the fives have now amassed an incredible 124 points (see here for the table). Only side sitting second in any of the other (26) divisions of Middlesex cricket has more points than that; SKLPC 2nd XI, in Division Three of the 2nd Tier, have 130. SKLPC have, however, played one more game than Jonny Bosier’s side, meaning that the fives have the highest average points per game of any second placed side.

Yet, it really does look like they won’t be going up. Teddington IVs sit six points ahead of them, and with games running out the odds are on them staying there. With Ealing Trailfinders 4s also posting over 100 points, there’s a yawning gap of 44 points between third and fourth. An odd division all round, somehow….

Twos come off second best
The twos lost on Saturday, but so did both of the sides below them (see here for the table). That means the Ts are four points ahead of Brondesbury and three ahead of Hampstead….and Hampstead travel to the Green next week. Big game incoming there.

In terms of Week 15, skipper Blake van der Linde will be just a little disappointed with how things turned out (see here for the card). Shay Boo put a gettable 216 on the board….and the Ts promptly did a very good job of getting nowhere near it.

George Ellaby (98 off 122) was the undoubted star for the Bush, and he’ll have been disappointed to have missed out on his tonne. Dev Tomlinson ran him out in the 38th over when he was going for a second.

The wickets were spread around for the Ts, the returning Greg Nielson (1-25 off 9) arguably caught the eye most.

In reply, things just never seemed to get going for Twickenham. Eugene Berger was out in the first over, and it wasn’t long before the visitors were 41-5. Nikhil Nomula (24 off 41) did offer a bit of resistance; Blake van der Linde also added a run-a-ball 29. Ultimately, all in vain though.

Threes never get going
The threes were in much the same boat as the twos. They never really got going and will be thankful that Chiswick and Enfield both lost (see here for the table). That means that with three games left they still sit 19 points above the relegation trapdoor. One more win will do it.

In terms of Saturday, they just never got enough runs on the board (see here for the card). Rajdeep Choudhary (27 off 42) was bright and breezy at the top, but no one else managed to get into double figures. Yashasvi Mohan (5-42) had a decidedly decent day with the ball.

In reply Rohith Doma and Imran Niazai both took early wickets, but Jack Artis (30no) kept his eye on the ball and helped the Bush get home without much further ado. Aswan Ahmed (68no off 40) simply added the rocket fuel.

On to Week 16….