In terms of our batting I felt Dan and Donners did what they had to do in terms of negated the early threat, but we didn’t manage to kick on from there. Lots of players did the hard bit in getting in but gave their wickets away cheaply and didn’t cash in when we needed it most. Perhaps the batters succumbed to the pressure of Shepherds Bush keeping things tight which is why I felt our approach needed to change. I feel like on wickets like the one we played on Saturday we needed to curb our natural stoke making instincts and simply nudge and nurdle every run. We only just scraped 103 whereas an extra 20 or 30 runs from numbers 2 and 7 (yes I include myself in this) then gets us to a match winning total which can then give our bowlers something to bowl towards. In spite of this we also must give credit to Shepherds Bush for keeping things tight and testing our patience. The wicket perhaps wasn’t the greatest and the outfield was more on the slower side which make it even more important that we fight and scrap every run. I feel that when the boundaries are hard to come by its imperative that you start picking gaps and creating different angles and opportunities to get runs. I felt there was a lack of urgency when running between the wickets as were unable to turn the singles into doubles and so on and so forth.

It was always going to be paramount that we take all of our chances and in turn pick up early wickets in order to give us a glimmer of hope in defending 103. Feroz and Brandon initially struggled but once Feroz got their opener out, he found his mojo and was perhaps unlucky not to get more wickets. Ozzie bowled with a lot of endeavour and heart but like Feroz couldn’t get through the Shepherds Bush middle order. Hamish at the other end showed great potential and very much deserved his two wickets. For a moment there was a feeling of “could the unthinkable happen” but unfortunately, we just didn’t get enough runs and in the end Shepherds Bush ran out deserved winners.

A tough day at the office for sure but I’m sure lessons have been learnt from this result. There are some talented cricketers in this side and I’m sure everyone in the side will click as a unit. In terms of man of the match, it was very much slim pickings, but I would give it to Hamish Johnston. For someone so young he showed great character to still give the ball plenty of hang time and turn after the batsman initially went after him. He showed promise with the bat before getting out to a good nut. With more overs under his belt and his continued attitude and hunger for the game, I’m sure Twickenham will have found themselves a gem of a cricketer. Shepherds Bush must be given credit for their victory today, they outplayed us in all aspects of the game and never really looked at all threatened in their chase. The 3s are away at Acton next Saturday and I’m certain there will be a response after this result and performance