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Balcombe CC v TWCC
31st May 2026  
Match report J Simon

It’s always a pleasure to roll along the lane to Balcombe CC’s HQ, and to be greeted by Tony and other familiar faces. TWCC were captained on the day by Tom Firth and, by mutual agreement, the visitors batted first in an 80 over fleximatch with a win, lose or draw result possible. TWCC welcomed back Tony and James for their first games of the season, and also were pleased to meet Viraj Bhatia who stepped in from, it turns out, a much more crickety world than is our norm.
The top order did not hang about, though not in the way intended. Tom, Henry and the returning Tony were all out for… very little, but, by the time TWCC were 3 down, Mikey Pearce was already in and looking extremely good. James Taylor came in at five and he and Mikey put on 78 for the fourth wicket. James scored 28 excellent runs before being bowled by Waters, but Mikey, by now well into his stride and playing really exceptional cricket, continued on. Jim came and went bringing in Viraj Bhatia, a friend of Kanishka’s who had kindly agreed to turn out for the club. Mikey and Viraj put on 89 together in fine style (and I don’t think, having seen Viraj bat, that he’d ever come in as low as No. 7 before…) before Mikey was caught and bowled by Vickerstaff for 96, four short of a deserved century. Kanishka, inspired by his friend, flourished his bat powerfully, and he and Viraj added 55 brisk runs before Rawbin came on and in three overs took three wickets — Kanishka, Ed and Matt (Brock) — to leave TWCC at 230 for 9. Edward then kept things ticking, when Viraj, sensing the end was near, launched an enoRMous six over long on deep into the woods. After a lengthy and unsuccessful search for the ball, Tom decided to declare with TWCC on 244 for 9, with Viraj unbeaten on a wonderfully capable 74, and Edward also not out having pulled a solid four off what proved to be Rawbin’s last over.


Mikey with a lovely lofted on drive - what a shot for six!


Viraj showing his class with a clip for four off his legs

Tea was provided by Tony, thank you Tony. Cricket teas are a part of the game's traditions, and not all clubs are, shall we say, generous to the same degree, and a good tea is an indicator of the nature of a club in many ways. We don’t see hot chicken wings and roast potatoes anywhere else!

Balcombe’s reply began well for TWCC. Henry bowled Vickerstaff for 13, and Ed, in a fine spell of six overs, took three wickets (two bowled and one LBW) to reduce Balcombe to four down for 69, these four wickets including those of some capable batters well known to TWCC from previous visits.
At Balcombe, however, the ball finds the boundary quickly, (often ignoring it altogether…), and in spite of the early wickets the chase was always on for the home side. B (Ben?) Oakes came in at five and batted steadily for 41 before, after a long innings, a good diving catch to his left by Ed off Jim’s bowling ended his resistance. Harry Hawe and Dave Ward, two experienced Balcombe hands, batted with characteristic gusto, and after both retired on 51, D. Pradhan quickly finished things off with an unbeaten 16. Balcombe reached their target in 36.5 overs, with overs to spare.
TWCC’s bowling was prone to being expensive, and byes added up as some leg side balls ran away, though Viraj with his classy left arm spin and Jim with whatever you call that slowed things down just as Dave Ward Harry Hawe had begun to open up. But in the end the target of 245 was comfortably overhauled by Pradhan and Wall with plenty of time to spare.
As the Long Man arrived, we decided not to bother with all that hindsight stuff as everyone got a good game, we got to meet Viraj, whose obvious capabilities were a joy to witness, a good total had been chased down, and no one left without a smile on their face. Mikey’s 96 stands out for TWCC, but it was the strength at depth of Balcombe’s batting that won the day, as, indeed, it often does.
Did someone say “Where’s the Champagne Moment?” Well… now that we know he wasn’t damaged beyond repair, it’s hard to ignore Kanishka’s heroic running swan dive chasing a ball in the deep. You had to be there, and for those that were it was a privilege to see. We should have bought him his G&T.

Scorecard
Toss was mutually agreed and TWCC batted first in an 80 overs win, LOSE or draw fleximatch.
TWCC Innings: T Firth*† bld B Oakes 0; H Short ct H Hawe bld T Wall 1; T Pearce ct J-D Teasdale bld B Oakes 0; M Pearce ct & bld T Vickerstaff 96; T Taylor bld T Waters 28; J Simon bld D Pradhan 3; V Bhatia not out 74; K Bhattacharya bld M Rawbin 28; E Howes ct D Ward bld M Rawbin 3; M Brock bld M Rawbin 0; E Bunn not out 4. Extras 7 (B1, W3, NB3) Total 244 all out (35.1 overs).
Fall: 1-0, 2-0, 3-23, 4-101, 5-106, 6-169, 7-224, 8-230, 9-230, 10-244.
Balcombe CC Bowling: B Oakes 5-1-18-2; T Wall 5-1-39-1; T Waters 5-0-40-1; J-D Teasdale 2-0-23-0; D Pradhan 6-0-50-1; D Vickerstaff 6-0-42-1; D Ward 3.1-0-23-0; M Rawbin 3-1-7-3.
Balcombe CC Innings: T Vickerstaff bld H Short 13; MRawbin* bld E Howes 10; Z Horscroft† bld E Howes 38; R Nevard LBW E Howes 0; B Oakes ct E Howes bld J Simon 41; H Hawe† retd 51; D Ward retd 51; T Wall not out 1; D Pradhan not out 16. DNB J-D Teasdale, T Water.Extras 25 (B22, LB2, W1)Total 246 for 5 (36.5 overs.
Fall: 1-20, 2-40, 3-60, 4-69, (5-255 though there were retirements along the way).
TWCC Bowling: H Short 6.5-0-62-1; M Brock 3-0-27-0; J Taylor 7-1-45-0; V Bhatia 5-0-22-0; J Simon 5-1-21-1; K Bhattacharya 3-0-18-0.
Balcombe win by 5 wickets.

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