A scorcher of a day at Ealing cricket provided the setting for the League leaders to host a Teddington side, once again, ‘fresh’ from a perilous Thursday / Friday Lords Test match combo. However, with the Lord’s curse having been broken at ‘Shey Boo’ just a month previous, the boys were buoyant, and keen to make up for 2 rained off games costing precious points.
James ‘The Labrador’ Keightley won the toss and elected to put Ealing in to bat on a wicket that was as flat as Keir Knightley's chest.
Once more, the skipper rallied the bowlers with a private discussion on pitch to great effect. Sever and Pollock controlled the ball well from the start, but as suspected, the slightest of slips on this wicket and the Ealing openers were quick to capitalise and put away a few early boundaries. This would surely be a 300 par deck!!!
Pollock was rewarded for his tight bowling and toil up the hill by drawing first blood, dismissing Wakefield who lost his leg stump convincingly.
Some fantastic partnership bowling from JK and Tim Armstrong saw both batsmen really scratch around for anything to hit. Somehow the ball was seeming around off this road of a pitch and the chances were beginning to come.
Keightley trapped Morton leg before, to great delight of those who chased a double ton’s worth of leather earlier in the season at Bushy Park.
The lads didn’t have to wait long for number 3 as James took the edge of Ashok 1st ball and a smart catch from Wade at second slip “finally saw him do something decent this season”. His own words.
Armstrong followed suit and claimed the wicket of Elech. Another great catch from Wade at second slip, who must have limited faith in JK’s catching ability having dived right in front of him at 1st. Greedy, but solid catching, and we weren’t complaining.
A fantastic effort from the bowlers had got Teddington in to a great position with Ealing 73-4. Ollie Wilkin managed to steady the ship slightly playing through injury but striking the ball nicely. David Keightley entered the attack to mix things up with a bit of spin and was rewarded for his tight bowling by forcing Wilkin to take a few risks. A top edged sweep saw the demise of Wilkin when Rist ran round to take the catch with the gloves.
Dave Keightley was in to his stride now and promptly went through the tail and earning a well deserved Michelle Pfeiffer.
A great job by all the bowlers in tough conditions, skittling Ealing for 171.
Both James Wade and Tom Twiney opened the batting solidly and made the wicket look as dead Michael Gove’s political career. 50 for no loss, 75 for no loss, 100 for no loss. The boys were batting effortlessly and both looked set.
Unfortunately, Wade couldn’t manage to kick on and was dismissed for 41 by Marshall.
Twiney began to go through the gears after having reached a half century and was hitting boundaries with ease. Ably assisted by James ‘The Pair’ Fear, Twiney steered Teddington towards victory. Fear tried his best to make things difficult for Twiney to reach his ton, leaving him 12 runs to finish the game when on 88. “No problems” said Twiney, who promptly hit 4, 6, 4, to both win the game and bring up his 100 in emphatic style.
A fantastic knock and some superb bowling leave Teddington sitting in pole position at the top of the Middlesex Prem.
(Author: Will Rist)