TRCC Sides Make History

May 10 2025. A historic day for TRCC.

The date marks the historic club’s first games in the newly restructured Thames Valley League (TVL).

The club’s first and second teams strode out on to the field for their first games in TVL Division 8B and TVL Division 9C respectively.

The first team welcomed Marlow CC, a new opponent, to Stanlake Meadow for their opening encounter.

Conditions were hot and dry, and Twyford were inserted.

Things didn’t begin well, with openers Adam Henley and Matt Ackerman both falling for 5.

Mark Higgins also added his name to the already bulging “duck club” and a worrying collapse was looming.

Happily, this was steadied by Ben Nichols (34) and Captain Marc Teal (22).

Manan Narula chipped in with a late 33 and Twyford eventually finished on 176 all out - a tricky total to defend given the conditions.

Marlow’s batting started equally badly, with the first three batters dismissed for scores in single figures.

The opposition never really got going, with a top score of 22.

Nichols young and old dominated the bowling.

Spence (old) won family bragging rights for the week with 4-23, with Ben recording figures of 3-30.

Marlow were skittled for just 121, marking a great start to life in the TVL for the 1s.

Highlight of the match was a dazzling one-handed catch by keeper Higgins, which Teal called “One of the best catches I’ve seen for Twyford.”

Second XI – big scores and a bad day for the new skipper

Tom Powell would’ve spent the week dreaming about the perfect start to life as captain of TRCC’s second team.

Unfortunately, fate decided to pay the Yorkshireman the cruellest of hands as he made his way to the game at Boyne Hill.

This is what happened to poor Tom:

·      He got a puncture

·      He couldn’t find the locking wheel nut

·      He couldn’t get the wheel off

·      He had to travel quite a long way in the wrong direction with the RAC to Wokingham

·      He had to fork out £40 to get from Wokingham to Boyne Hill

·      He ran himself out

·      He came home to find his car and his car keys had not been left near his house.

Happily, the car has since been located and Tom’s blood pressure has returned to normal levels.

Batting-wise, the rest of the team did pretty well.

Veejay Deekonda whacked a typically swift 36 before star man Andrew Miller got his first 100 for the club.

He was ably assisted by under-15s Jacob Ingram and Dyland Taylor, who scored 23 and 25 not out respectively.

TRCC finished on a formidable 223-7

Sadly that was as good as it got, as opposition batters produced a top performance.

Opener Ramanujam recorded the second hundred of the day, retiring unbeaten on 101.

The bowlers toiled away, but to no avail.

In fact, Ingram Jr was the only one with any success.

The hosts reached their target with just one wicket down – an impressive run chase.

The weekend marks a historic day and while the results were mixed, the teams are underway in what promises to be a fascinating season of league cricket.