The ones and the fives were the toast of the town in Week 10 of the Middlesex County Cricket League (MCCL). The ones won an intriguing contest against Wycombe House, the fives got home in what became a thriller against Harrow St Mary’s 4s. The Dassani Army hung on in relative comfort for a draw against South Hampstead whilst the twos threatened to come out on top against Indian Gym but ultimately fell just short. The poor old threes, meanwhile, had a game to forget.

Dixon goes big
The ones have been spluttering just a little of late. Not, however, on Saturday 14 July. They beat Wycombe House by 74 runs on Twickenham Green (see here for the card).

In many ways this was one of the more enjoyable wins. The Twickenham track was good, taking wickets was hard and yet the Ts managed to grind out ten of them and subsequently take all twelve points.

In truth, both sides can bowl better, but that shouldn’t detract from some excellent batting. Pat Dixon was very much at the centre of that, scoring 125no (157 balls) to act as the backbone of the Twickenham innings. He took his time at the start, but accelerated nicely as the declaration loomed.

Debutant Jiyaad Magrey accompanied Dixon for the best part of 30 overs, hitting an impressive 90 (103 balls). The openers put on 162 and set the Ts up perfectly. A quickfire 55 (39 balls) from Donny Manuwelge helped the Ts declare at 50 with 298 on the board.

Poor old Wycombe House, meanwhile, will be more than happy to see the back of the Twickenham batters this season. The top four scores of any Twickenham player in any side in 2024 have been scored in the two games against the House; Dixon and Magrey on Saturday, plus Nev Talbot (166) and Dixon again (77 not out) in Week 1. Indeed, that’s twice Dixon has carried his bat (for a total of 202 not out) against WH this year. The stuff of which bowling nightmares are made.

In reply, the House were certainly not going to go down without a fight. Absar Muhammed hit a fluent 34 (35 balls) before the old warhorse Carlos Nunes trapped him leg before. Tanay Biswal also looked to be positive, and his 40 (35 balls) was easy on the eye.

Hameed Ahmadzai (41 off 59) was nuggety in the middle of the innings, whilst Bilal Chaudhry (52 off 60) also batted impressively.

Ultimately, however, the Ts kept chipping away. Nikhil Nomula will almost certainly have bowled better, but he still claimed six of the wickets to fall. That’s Nomula’s second six wicket haul of the season, too, respect due. Adam Mather bowled quickly and with decent rhythm, and his 1-47 doesn’t really do him justice. Plus, Nunes did what he does; trundle in and get people out (2-23 off 9).

All in all Twickenham won, but perhaps more importantly it felt like a proper game of cricket. Do nonetheless spare a thought for the Ts’ number three Ethan Wright. He ended up having his pads on (and not batting) for the full 50 overs. Pass that pad rash cream someone, please……

McLusky keeps his cool
The fives were the other Twickenham victors in Week 10, squeezing home by one wicket against Harrow St Mary’s fours (see here for the card).

Skipper Adam Gale held the fort for HSM, hitting 49 (off 67 balls) as they posted 170 off 50 overs. Ryan Oakes was destroyer-in-chief for the Ts, bowling an impressive 15 overs and claiming 5-53. Lloyd Townsend chipped in with another wicket, whilst Puneet Sahota went one better and bagged a brace. He ended with a neat and tidy 2-27 off 10.

170 nonetheless wins a fair few games of cricket in the third tier and the Ts knew they’d have to bat well to get home.

Zain Bozai (13) and Zafar Ali (20) got the Ts off to a decent enough start, but then Gale (5-50) came on and tore a big hole in the Twickenham middle order. Ryan Oakes (23) did manage to keep things moving but by the time Jonny Bosier came to the wicket the Ts were in something of a pickle.

Bosier, however, showed nerves of steel and began doing what he does. Hitting the ball. Hard. His 31 was crucial in getting the Ts up close to the finishing line.

It was, however, ultimately young Harry McLusky (13no) who kept his powder dry when it really mattered. With Gale removing number 10 Lloyd Townsend McLusky and last man Aarush Jain were tasked with getting the last, desperate runs. McLusky stood tall, clonked one for four, and that was that. Job done.

Williams digs in for the 4s
The story wasn’t quite as Hollywood for the 5s, but they’ll nonetheless be pleased to have taken the strain and got something out of their game against a belligerent South Hampstead threes.

South Hampstead batted first and arguably batted too long. Do you *really* need to bat 49 overs when you have well north of 250 on the board? They closed on 290, a score that with the best will in the world the Ts were never going to get in 43 overs.

Hinay Dassani picked up a couple of wickets, as did Salim Salam. Shah Bozdar couldn’t quite repeat his heroics of previous weeks, but he still managed to register one success. Harry Tebb also added another wicket to his expanding collection.

In reply, the Ts made it clear that they’d take the runs on offer, but the key aim was survival. Saul Croxford (36 off 32) went along nicely, and it was great to see Hiran Dissanayake (32no off 69) back in some decent form. Matt Williams (27 off 96) nonetheless won the ‘Paul McLoughlin Dig in of the Day Award’ for making 100 per cent sure the Ts were not going home without at least one point in their back pockets.

That one point might not seem like much, but in the great scheme of things it could be very important. Had South Hampstead won then they would have been 17 points ahead of the Ts. As it is, they are nine points ahead. So, within one win. Let’s see how significant that looks when the dust settles in Week 18 (see here for the table).

What might have been for the 2nd XI
The story was less positive for the twos. They threatened to beat Indian Gym at Thornbury Avenue, but ultimately came off second best. Indian Gym won by three wickets.

The Ts batted first and put 132 on the board. Mo Ahmad and Rajdeep Chaudhary looked bright and breezy up top, and they put 40 on for the first wicket. After that, however, things went downhill quickly.

Still, when Indian Gym were 102-7 the twos still felt they were very much in with a chance. Ali Jennings had bowled nicely, as had Tapan Kumar. But, Indian Gym’s eighth wicket partnership stood firm and got the hosts home.

The defeat sees the twos marooned at the bottom of Division One. Week 11 sees them welcome eighth placed North London to the Green. If the twos are going to salvage anything from this difficult season, then a win in that game is absolutely imperative.

Threes have a day to forget
Sometimes teams have weeks that they just want to forget. That was very much the case for the 3s in Week 10.

Robbie Bosier’s side have been playing pretty well of late, but everything that could go wrong did go wrong in their heavy defeat against Richmond.

Richmond had first hit and put 248 on the board before declaring (after 46). That was a decent recovery from 106-5.

Mark Smith led the way with the ball, helping himself to 4-77 off 14. Twickenham’s version of Bill Frindel, Anush Ganesh, also chipped in (3-62 off 12).

The Twickenham reply, however, was a car wreck of epic proportions. Barty Boyd, Oli George and Vamshi Yelugam all got into double figures, but five ducks elsewhere tells its own story. The Ts ended so far behind that they almost finished third rather than second.

But, such are the vagaries of cricket. One week can be a (very) hard slog, the next can see a side very much on the front foot. Let’s see what next week brings.