By Nihal Tomar

Twickenham were aiming to go one better than their dramatic tie on the green the previous week as they travelled south of the A3 to take on Malden Wanderers. For some of our own it almost felt like a home game but at that one point there were fears that Twickenham were only going to play with 5 as the others were stuck in traffic due to various protests in Teddington and New Malden.

Skipper Nakul Vishvanath won the toss and decided to have first dibs on a flat looking deck. Nikhil Nomula and Sanjit Sandhu got the Ts off to a sedate start before Sandhu was trapped LBW. DRS would have been interesting as it looked a touch high from the dugout (sorry Amos!). In at 3 was the very exciting and exuberant Ajmal Allahdad. Nomula and Allahdad put on a partnership of 109 for the 2nd wicket with a mixture of rotating the strike and good ball hitting. After notching up a very well deserved half century the partnership was eventually broken as Allahdad tried one shot too many and was subsequently caught at point reverse sweeping.

Rob Rigby was next in and carried on in the same vein as Allahad although with more panache and swagger. Both Rigby and Nomula took the Ts past 200. With plenty of overs left in the bank, Twickenham were looking at a total onwards and upwards of 280/300. However, James Marks of Malden Wanderers had other idea as he came back into the attack to dismiss Rigby for a brisk 44. Nomula, who was given a life on 4, seemed to be playing a different game to the rest as he kept the scoreboard ticking. Unfortunately, that came to an end as he perished for a potential match winning 81.

Mo Ahmed and Tom Field were promoted up the order to add some extra impetus to the innings. The plan backfired, however, as both batsmen were bowled cheaply leaving Twickenham in a spot of bother. Skipper Vishvanath and the newly kitted out Nihal Tomar had to postpone their Ant and Dec in game video analysis as they came to the crease with a rescue mission. They managed to put on 40 for the 7th wicket before Tomar was bowled for 21. A few lusty blows from Vishvanath propelled Twickenham to 260-7 in their 45.

Early wickets and scoreboard pressure were the key components to winning the game as Twickenham opened up with Dave Jones and Dom Thamby. Twickenham got their first wicket of the innings thanks to a horrible mix up which saw an early end to skipper Marks. Keeper-batsman James Edwards came in to weather the early Twickenham storm and steady the ship for the home side. Whilst Jones was miserly and luckless in the first half of his spell, Thamby was struggling with rhythm and consistency. He was then replaced by Newman (B) who was looking to put in a performance for his female fan club at cow corner boundary.

Jones's persistence finally reaped rewards as he managed to nick off Dodd and sneak through the defences of Young. Skipper Vishvanath decided to turn to spin as Field was introduced into the attack. Vishvanath wasted no time in getting himself into the attack as Twickenham continued the squeeze. The Ts skipper had a couple of overs to forget as the home side started to target him in an attempt to get the run rate up and above 6 an over. This was aided by the busy looking keeper batsman Edwards and the nonchalant Charles Cleaver.

However, that partnership was broken as a rejuvenated Vishvanath trapped Edwards for a well-crafted 52. The wicket sparked Twickenham back into life as Vishvanath grabbed his second victim of the day with Goh holing out to Newman at deep square leg. Cue big cheers from the crowd! Field soon joined the party and Marks was caught behind leaving Malden Wanderers reeling on 142-6.

Like Nomula in the first innings, Charles Cleaver was keeping the scoreboard ticking and taking the game deep. Unfortunately for him he was running out of partners as Thamby came back into the attack for a second spell and accounted for Bateman. Twickenham's version of Merv Hughes then had the bit between his teeth as Robert Graham was caught behind at the second time of asking by Ahmed. Despite some sloppy moments in the field and the efforts of Cleaver, the game was taken a lot deeper than it perhaps should have gone but nonetheless Twickenham managed to notch up their first win of the 2021 season.

Well done one and all.