HAMPSTEAD boosted their chances of finishing in the top three with an emphatic win over Twickenham at Lymington Road. Hampstead won the toss and put the visitors in to bat and initially looked to have it all to do when the opening pair put on 48 for the l

HAMPSTEAD boosted their chances of finishing in the top three with an emphatic win over Twickenham at Lymington Road.

Hampstead won the toss and put the visitors in to bat and initially looked to have it all to do when the opening pair put on 48 for the loss of the first wicket.

Twickenham kept up the good work, reaching 84 before they lost their next wicket, before the Hampstead attack started to find their way through.

Robert Tidey (3-26) was the first to strike, removing opening pair of Thomas Meredith (47) and Clint McCabe (3) who were both caught by Carl Diebitsch. Zac Khan (3-43) kept up the good work along with Middlesex young cricketer Mubasher Hassan who proved to be a thorn in the side of the Twickenham batsmen. The next three wickets fell for just 21 runs. Hassan (4-31) refused to let the hosts off the hook, taking three of the last four wickets to have the visitors all out for 120.

In reply, Hampstead were rocked when Tidey departed for a duck when trapped lbw by Paul Cassidy (2-31) to leave them with just eight runs on the scoreboard for the loss of the first wicket.

The hosts looked to have it all to do when Hassan (7) was caught by Jack Parker off Cassidy, but Brandon Buckley led the fightback as he resolutely rebuffed the attack.

Buckley, now batting in partnership with Mark Harvey (19 not out) continually thwarted the Twickenham attack, finishing unbeaten on 83 as he steered Hampstead to an emphatic victory.

Hampstead captain Joe Cotterell said: "Obviously we are very pleased with another convincing win. The bowlers deserve a lot of credit, particularly Mubashar Hassan, who bowled with exemplary control to exploit the conditions fully and he was well supported by Rob Tidey and Zac Khan.

"However, knocking off 120 was not easy once we lost a couple of early wickets but Brandon Buckley batted very maturely to see us home in emphatic fashion.

"We still have an outside chance of finishing third this year, which would be a remarkable achievement given where we were eight weeks ago. We have won five of our last eight games, with two abandoned and one defeat.

"We play Acton at home on Saturday and will be looking to avenge our defeat to them earlier in the season which will hopefully mean we go to Teddington for the last game of the season needing a win to finish third.