Threes on song
It’s been a weird old summer for Twickenham CC’s 3rd XI. Four games rained off on Saturdays, two games played on Sundays … and not a win in sight. A game against top of the table North Middlesex wouldn’t normally be seen as the ideal opportunity to sort the last part of that out. But, cricket is nothing if not surprising. The Ts won at a canter (see here for the card).

From Caracas to Cakes de Killa
The first problem for all concerned was finding a place to actually play the game. With St Mary’s College pulling the plug in March on the 3s’ normal venue at Teddington Lock, the club hierarchy didn’t have much time to sort a replacement out. In the end and after a lot of head-scratching, the 3s found themselves having to play home games at a variety of places. This particular encounter with North Midd was one of the harder ones to sort out; in the end, only North Acton Playing Fields (NAPF) was available. At times you have to take what you’re given.

Now, NAPF is not an uninteresting place to spend an afternoon. On Saturday 26th June a massive game of Colombian-themed football took place right next to the deep square boundary. Carlos Valderrama wasn’t there, but it wasn’t hard to see the numerous Colombian kits in the 27 person a side game. The Colombian flag flying from the crossbar was also a fairly clear statement of intent. Whether the Colombian players were as average at penalties as the members of their national side were back in the 2018 World Cup was not immediately apparent.

On the other side of the outfield we had an altogether different event taking place; a dance competition. No, not the latest auditions for Strictly, this was much more street dance and hip hop. Apparently. Whatever the details of what it was, it was loud and most of Middlesex will probably have been able to hear what was going on. Or that’s at least what it felt out to those trying to indulge in a bit of cricket right next door.

Ajmal shines
In terms of the game of cricket to hand, Ts’ skipper Connor Finney won the toss and decided to have a bat. The track did not exactly look like a flat one at the Oval in late August. But, Twickenham were going to have to bat on it at some point so why not face that challenge down sooner rather than later.

The MCCL podcast pairing of Eugene Berger and Dan Hough started off proceedings, and both contributed 14. They could, however, hardly have done it in different ways; Berger bashed two impressive sixes before getting in a muddle and missing one whilst Hough nudged and nurdled for not far off 14 overs to get his runs on the board. The tortoise and the hare got to where they were going at very different rates of knots.

Ajmal Allahdad (62 off 44), batting at three, was the match’s class batting act. He made things look remarkably easy, stroking the ball off his legs with panache and driving with a style that made the ropey looking pitch look nothing but the most minor of irritants. Allahdad nonetheless departed to Nirusa Weerasinghe’s first ball, gently helping the ball right down Alex Sydenham’s throat at deep-backward square.

Steve Watts didn’t exactly represent a like-for-like replacement but, like most Ts’ players, he got into double figures and did his bit. Indeed, two strong arm smashes through the covers were very pleasant on the eye. It was Euan Pickering who picked things up nicely, launching three sixes in an impressive 35 (30 balls). It was that knock that saw the Ts end just north of 200. Skipper Tom Greenhalgh led the way for the Midd with a resolute 5-49.

“Mo, can you help …. “
Tea was a self-service affair as both sides dined under a couple of large trees near to the dance competition. Mo Ahmad had generously gone off to buy a round of (watery) drinks and assorted titbits for the team and he came back just in time to take an urgent phone call from a fellow TCC member. The aforementioned fellow member of the side was caught in a tricky position having tried to follow the call of nature. Let’s just say that he’d not gone totally prepared and the clean-up operation was not going well. Quite how Mo Ahmad was going to be able to put this situation right was not clear to anyone.

Come what may, that particular issue was eventually sorted out and the Ts took to the field. Immediately, they made progress. Eugene Berger took three wickets cheaply, one leg below and two bowled as North Midd stumbled. When JP Bowman removed the wily old warhorse, Sam Sheppard, for 8 the Ts knew it was well and truly game on and the victory charge began in earnest.

Berger bowled a monumental spell from the one end, getting through 22 overs (including 14 maidens) for his 4 wickets. Just the 15 runs were scored off him in that time. JP Bowman put in a rock solid 10 over spell (2-23) at the other end whilst Praween Siriwardena (3-24 off 13) also bowled admirably. Sanjit Sandhu and Mo Ahmad also helped things along by pulling off a smart run out in between.

Firooz on the charge
Chris Martland (22) was the only top order North Midd batter to really knuckle down and show some stickability, although the last pair of Greenhalgh and Jack Price certainly did all they could to stave off defeat.

Price batted 36 balls for 9 whilst Greenhalgh batted 49 balls for 1. The Ts still had plenty of overs in the bank, but, well, when last wicket partnerships like this develop they can prompt nerves to set in.

Connor Finney sensibly juggled his bowlers around. Sanjit Sandhu was brought into the attack and the merits of Steve Watts’s leg spin was also up for discussion. But, ultimately, it was the quickest bowler on show, Firooz Ahmad, who took the final wicket. Firooz raced in and bowled full and straight. Price and Greenhalgh survived a couple of Firooz overs, but with the first ball of his third over the left arm speedster produced a corker to finally see Price’s vigil end.

Onwards and upwards
The Midd were clearly undercooked and it’d be churlish not to recognise that. The Ts, however, have both been unlucky with the weather and indeed have come across some decidedly useful outfits of late. So, well, maybe they were due a bit of luck.

That having been said, there wasn’t anything lucky about the performance. The batters battled hard on a difficult track and more or less everyone contributed. The bowlers also came to the party impressively. A good win it was indeed.

Next week sees the Ts off to play Harrow Town. Fingers crossed the good performance levels carry on into that game.