Ts ease to 12 points at Hornsey

Twickenham Threes got back to winning ways on 20 July, easing their way to a 56 run triumph against Hornsey. Harry Grinstead (41) and Steve Watts (31) led the way with the bat, whilst Anu Agarwal (4-27) and Kit Wilson took the honours with the ball.

Skipper Steve Watts would no doubt have bowled first had he won the toss, but neither he nor his side were particularly bothered at being asked to have first hit. Batting was going to be tricky all day so the aim of the game was to dig in, stick it out and hit those bad balls when they came. Plus, Ts were more than confident that they had the weaponry to bowl Hornsey out.

On a normal day an opening partnership of Steve Cowley and Hayden Tyler would have been one jam-packed with stroke-playing potential. On a damp day in North London both batters wisely decided to rein in their more expansive instincts. They got their respective heads down to try and see off the new ball.

Hornsey’s Oscar Wood nonetheless proved to be a handful and it wasn’t too long before he got through Tyler’s defences to register the first W of the day. Harry Grinstead, promoted up the order, came in at three to continue fighting the good fight. Grinstead nonetheless refused to get stuck and, tough though it was to time the ball, he still managed to hit the boundary reasonably regularly.

With Cowley out for 24 and seasonal debutant Dan Hough running himself (by a country mile) out for 8, it was left to Grinstead and Steve Watts to get the score up above 100. That they duly did, but soon afterwards Grinstead also perished; caught at long on by Rob Devenney off the indomitable Luke Dewey (who was in the middle of a 24 over spell).

That was essentially the story of the innings. Some good stodginess, some well-controlled hitting and then the inevitable ball with your name on it. That didn’t prevent Robbie Bosier (batting at 9) and Kit Wilson (coming in at 10) from putting on a decent (and unbeaten) 21 for the 9th wicket. Skipper Watts subsequently called the troops in with 159 on the board and 48 overs gone.

The tea was an intriguing affair. Older readers of the TCC website may recall Dave Henderson once talk of a tea-o-meter; had the Hendo-tea-o-meter been in play at Hornsey then we’d be in B-/C+ territory. Excellent cakeage, some decent sandwiches with plenty of filling plus an assortment of extras (pizza was a nice touch, for example). But (and there always seems to be a but) we had a major beverage problem; no milk meant no tea (not unless you’re a mentalist and drink black tea, obviously). But, well, I suppose it could have been worse. They could have offered up coffee …

Back out on the field, Ozzie Qavi didn’t waste too much time in making an impact, removing the dangerous Oscar Wood for 2. To their credit, Hornsey, bottom of the table and struggling, then showed a fair degree of stickability. The nuggety Cormac Haughton was certainly up for the fight while number three Niraj Parmar also flailed away merrily. Between them they eased the hosts past the 50 mark.

That was nonetheless the high watermark of success for Hornsey. Kit Wilson will have bowled better, but that didn’t stop him finishing up with three wickets. Anu Agarwal, meanwhile, was causing mayhem with his flight and drift. The fact that all four of the Sheikh of Tweak’s wickets were bowled might speak volumes about the home batters’ techniques, but on a damp surface that offered bite and lift he was a tough act to come to terms with.

Hornsey also failed to help themselves at times. Skipper Ben Waine was bowled leaving Agarwal alone, whilst Ryan Tester committed harri-karri by taking a suicidal single to Hayden Tyler. Tyler, the coolest man inside the M25, simply rolled the ball in underarm to hit the stumps direct from 20 yards. The Big Lebowski would have been proud (and if you’ve never seen the Big Lebowski, then have a strong word with yourself and make sure you watch it this week).

Hornsey subsequently went from 56-1 to 61-4 and then from 77-4 to 82-7. At that point Rob Devenney tried to batten down the hatches and he played Agarwal better than most. Eventually, however, he, too, fell on his sword, edging Harry Grinstead to Ozzie Qavi to give the Ts the 12 points.

The Threes’ brainstrust said early on that 160 would be a good score. For once, it would appear that they knew what they were talking about. Sensible batting, aggressive bowling and good fielding (no catches dropped, no misfields of note) saw the Ts home. Bring on next week!