Crawley's final chance to star in showpiece

Mark Crawley will compete as hard as anybody for a winner's medal in club cricket's showpiece game of the year at The Oval this weekend.

Crawley, 34-year-old elder brother of England batsman John, is a key member of the Teddington team which takes on High Wycombe on Sunday in the 50-over final of the £12,000 Evening Standard Challenge Trophy.

Victory will be sweet for the prolific west London club whose name has already been inscribed three times on the silver trophy, but defeat will not be a disaster, as the mere presence of

Crawley at The Oval should remind all his friends and colleagues.

Twelve months and one day ago, Crawley was an eyewitness to real disaster in New York as American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airways Flight 175 ploughed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Crawley, a credit derivatives trader who was working in Japanese bank Nomura's New York office opposite the Twin Towers, recalled: "There was not a lot of damage to our building and nobody was hurt but we were so lucky.

"It was much worse for my wife because all the phone systems were down and I couldn't get in touch. She assumed the worst till I walked in."

Crawley's two-year secondment to New York severely restricted his appearances for Teddington, the club he joined when he moved to London in 1995 after four seasons on the Nottinghamshire staff.

Crawley said: "I joined Teddington because I wanted to play for the best. Year in, year out they are consistently one of the top sides."