The Twickenham CC U9s’ 2024 campaign came to a close on Sunday 1 September when they visited Ashford CC. Sebastian Gair, Una Ryan and Vince Hough led the way with the ball, whilst Harvir Ghere and Stan Hough caught the eye with the bat (see here for the card). Excellent stuff.

Ts’ bowlers perform solidly
The U9s have generally been blessed with great cricket-playing conditions this season and that continued right into their final game of the season. The sun shone, a gentle breeze blew and 20 players all settled in to enjoy an entertaining morning. Marvellous.

Ashford won the toss and decided to have a bat. Aidan Basra (1-5 off 2), deputising for the under-the-weather Jaden Mate, opened the bowling and indeed claimed a wicket. Jack Baran (1-9 off 2) followed suite, whilst Una Ryan couldn’t have made a grander entrance if she tried; ongoing fights with a SatNav meant she missed the first two couple of overs of the day, but when she did enter the field she immediately had a bowl and took a wicket with her very first ball. Impressive!

The Ashford batters battled gamely, opener Paarth Panchal top-scoring whilst Stephen Sagaya batted positively latter on.

Batting nonetheless got more difficult as the innings went on; Harvir Ghere (two runs form two overs) turned the screw, Faris Iqbal conceded just the nine from his couple, whilst Seb Gair was also in particularly stingy mood (again, two runs coming from his two).

Vince Hough then added to that by taking a couple of wickets in a spell where he conceded just the one run from his 12 balls. Ashford closed on 249.

Ghere and Hough (S) see the Ts home
At half-way the Ts backed themselves to chase that total down. But, scoring runs is not always as easy as you think it might be.

Aidan Basra and Jack Baran started off brightly enough, with Una Ryan and Ahana Singh digging in after them. Faris Iqbal and Seb Gair ran nicely between the wickets and with extras contributing generously along the way the Ts were doing ok. Ashford, were, however, very much still in the game.

Qasim Murtaza was part of the reason for that; he bowled nicely, claiming 1-3 off his two overs. Stephen Sagaya went one better, pouching 2-11 whilst Krish Soni and Aarav Rajan also joined the wicket-taking party. The Ts were on top but not most definitely not out of sight.

Harvir Ghere (12) and Stan Hough (14) stepped up to the plate to make sure that Twickenham pushed on, and it was thanks to their good work that the Ts ultimately ended 21 clear on 270. Decent stuff.

The win means that the Ts’ season (at U9 level, at least) has drawn to a close. It’s been grand. Lots of young players have begun making their way in the game, and more or less every one of the 15 or so games that they’ve played have been really enjoyable festivals of cricket.

Bring on 2025.