Reigning Middlesex County League Premier Division and current table-toppers Ealing overcame a game Twickenham side by 38 runs last night.

Ealing posted a very competitive 168 off their allotted 20 overs, the consistent Luke Stoughton providing the backbone with a belligerent 63.

Twickenham made every attempt to score the eight-an-over needed, and while Carlos Nunes and Clint McCabe were at the crease the game was very much on.

However, once the two South Africans departed the game slipped away from the Ts as Ealing ultimately cantered into round two.

Ealing began proceedings in positive fashion, with Luke Stoughton in particular driving through the covers with gusto and swatted both Mike Vosloo and Justin Scriven through the leg side with abandon.

The score rocketed toward 100 with barely nine overs gone, but Twickenham's J-P Cronje spell in the middle of the innings slowed the rate - eventually bowling Stoughton after some light verbal sparring.

Cronje went on to pick-up another couple of wickets and his figures of 3-23 were richly deserved.

Ealing skipper David Holt carried on the good work for the hosts, chipping in with 36, while Clint McCabe and Warwick Paull bowled nice spells to limit Ealing to 70 runs off the last 11 overs. Twickenham realised that if they were to chase down 168, then they had to make good use of the initial six over power play.

They were helped in their cause by a first over from Tahir Afridi that brought 18 runs, and after 3 overs the Ts were 31-0.

The run rate remained high for the next 4 overs, as Nunes smashed the ball to all corners whilst McCabe took his time and largely remained content to watch his captain make hay at the other end.

Nunes’s 45 came in 25 balls and set a super base from which Twickenham could really put Middlesex’s premier team under pressure. McCabe continued to rotate the strike and move the score along, yet slowly but surely his respective partners got bogged down.

Warwick Paull came and went quickly, while Justin Scriven struggled gamely to deal with some decent swing bowling as well as some tight off spin from Sameer Patel.

Slowly wickets fell - including the important one of McCabe - as the hosts turned the screw, making Mark Ryan's valiant attempt to up the run-rate with an unbeaten 21 ultimately fruitless.

A 38-run defeat against one of the best sides in the south-east is certainly not a disgrace, but the Ts spent the first ten overs chasing too much leather and the middle five or six overs of their innings not hitting the ball far enough.

The Ts return to league cricket on Saturday when they make the trip up to South Hampstead.