Teddington skipper James Keightley has given borough rivals Richmond and Twickenham hope by declaring the Middlesex County League Premier Division title race wide open.

Keightley’s defending champions dismissed Twickenham for 165 to claim a 50-run win on the Green on Saturday, despite having been held to a below-par 215 in the first innings.

The defeat leaves skipper Carlos Nunes’ Ts 20 points adrift of leaders Ealing, while seconnd-placed Richmond – winners by 54 runs at North Middlesex – are five points off the pace.

“Ealing will drop points. The league is wide open and I think it will go right down to the wire this year,” said Keightley, left, whose side moved out of the league’s bottom two with the win.

“I think Richmond have got a shout and Twickenham are not out of it either.”

Teddington lost their opening five games of the campaign, but have collected 27 points from their past three encounters - including two wins.

Kieghtley (69) and fit-again James Wade (62) were the stars of their side's innings on Saturday as Arminder Singh (4-89), Shawn Hicks (3-39) and Clint McCabe (3-19) impressed with the ball.

Twickenham never really got going in reply - despite seven batsmen getting starts - and the game was up when Nunes fell for just 30.

"The first five weeks have been pretty stressful and we were very happy to win at Twickenham," he said.

"Twickenham's top six are the second strongest in the league behind Ealing so it was a great effort to stop them

"I think their skipper was annoyed that his batsmen never really applied themselves on a fantastic wicket and there were too many soft dismissals."

He added: "There is a long way to go, but I'm confident we will beat the drop.

"We've got one or two players back - with the big one being James Wade - and we are coming together as a team.

"We are without Duncan Wood (shoulder) for the season, but I think we should be OK and we will not join the exclusive band of teams that got relegated the season after winning the league."

Meanwhile, opener Tom Guy celebrated a maiden century in Twickenham third team’s 128-run win at South Hampstead.

Guy finished unbeaten on 103 as Ts posted 272-5dec before bowling out the hosts for 144 with three balls to spare.

Fixtures: Finchley v Twickenham, Teddington v Stanmore, Richmond v Hampstead, Barnes v Highgate.