Mighty 4s Back on Top

The Mighty Fours travelled to Twickenham with, on paper, one the strongest sides ever to appear under this illustrious banner. Unfortunately, at the toss, only three members of that side had turned up. Undaunted, Johnny Roberts stepped into the breach, tossed up, lost and started to wonder how we were going to provide two batsmen and two umpires. Thankfully the Twicks skipper was understanding and agreed to delay the start by 15 minutes at which point the first North Midd car arrived and the game got underway. Though we lost Shep early, Gaurav, in typically robust style, and Johnny, stroking some lovely shots through the covers, gave us a good start against decent seam bowling. G (38), Johnny (21) and Turbo (22) kept the runs flowing but with the loss of Mr Joey "I'm just round the corner" James for 1 and debut skipper Burgoyne dismally failing in his attempt to play a captain's knock by playing across a straight one for 18 it looked like we might be bowled out for around 150. Step forward messrs Cannon and Garrett who put together a brilliant partnership to get us up towards 200. Once they went in quick succession (Garrett 30, Cannon 32), the Twicks thought it was job done. They reckoned without Bridgeland and Dyke who merrily smashed their way to a partnership of 65 off about 5 overs. Dyke finished with 23, Bridgeland with 49 off 28 balls. Twicks came off the field looking duly hot and bothered, a potential 170 target having ballooned into one of 254 off 45. After an inspiring team talk from the skipper ("erm, right, lets have fun and win the game") the Fours came out fired up. Bridgeland came charging in down the hill. His first two balls were head high beamers but he soon settled down and had the Twicks openers hopping about and no doubt wondering how the hell they were facing pace like this in a Fours team. When G caught their opener at mid off, the Twicks number 3 came to the crease looking like a class act as he confidently pulled Bridgeland for a succession of fours. Riled, the young paceman produced probably the quickest ball in fours history which clanged the number 3 on the helmet. He bravely carried on only to fall LBW to Mason next over. (We later learned he'd gone to A&E and had been diagnosed with mild concussion, so wish him the best for a quick recovery). Bridgeland cleaned up the other opener to complete a fiery opening spell while Mason continued to beat the bat regularly. Garrett bowled beautifully without luck while, at the other end, Dyke began to wheel away in what would become the game's key spell. Backed up by three great Garrett catches and some sharp work behind the stumps by Cannon, Dyke produced turn, bounce and 5 for 54. Man of the Match Bridgeland came back to snap up two more wickets and, from looking good at one stage for the four points, Twicks subsided to 160 all out. Back to winning ways for the Fours and time to head out on the long journey home with Grand Master Ferg breaking out the 80s soul classics like a provincial night club DJ.