Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

Matt 'Scoop' Cheviott reporting:

Washington’s unbeaten start to the season ended in dramatic fashion on Sunday. In a game of see-sawing fortunes, Wash fell short against the Haringay Librarians – despite at one stage having looked odds-on to win.  Yet despite the heroic efforts of Aftab Akram (87) and Sam Clarke (56),  Wash fell 35 runs short of their target – and so ended the unbeaten run.

Skipper Clinton Dugmore was philosophical after the game:  ‘I was really proud of the way the middle order guys pulled us back into the match after a tough start’, he said, ‘but you have to hand it to the Bookmen – they played really good cricket and rode the luck that came their way: they deserved it on the day.’

Wash last played the Librarians in the late 1990s, but a lot has changed since then.  First, only one of them is a librarian; second, most of them live in Enfield; and third, they are a much better side than the one Wash beat comfortably in successive years two decades ago.

Opening pair George  Garnsworthy (56) and Kevin Tew (64) added 123 for the first wicket at around 5 an over, and though Nick Kripps (1-36) removed the former, and Abhisheck Thakur (1-29) the latter, new batsmen Kumaran  (69*) and Das (30) continued to pile on the pressure. 

Das fell to the last ball of the innings – a victim for Toby Mariner (1-48), but others remained wicketless:  Peter Kloss (0-35) bowled an excellent opening spell that on another day would have yielded a hatful of wickets; Clark (0-30) troubled all the batsmen with an accurate spell;Dugmore himself (0-20) fired down four rapid overs at the death, and Aftab (0-19) prepared for his batting heroics with a 3-over burst.

Washington’s pursuit of their target – 247 off 40 overs – got off to a dreadful start.  Matt Cragoe (0) was bowled off his pads fourth ball by one that swung late, ‘RV’ Aravindan (5) played one glorious on-drive but was then bowled pulling over one that kept low, and the skipper lofted a catch to Garnsworthy for 12.  Wash were rocking at 22-3 off 12.

But from this inauspicious platform, Aftab and Clarke launched a pwerful counter-attack.  Slowly at first but picking up speed as their confidence increased, they added 155 for the fourth wicket and seemed to be taking Wash home to a memorable victory. With 9 overs remaining only 72 were needed, and with the pitch flat and the outfield like glass, it all seemed to be going Washngton's way.

But the introduction of Das (2-13) changed the course of the game.  His first ball was a beamer that hit Aftab on the shoulder, but two balls later he got his man caught playing a big shot;  the batsmen crossed, and the very next delivery, Clark missed a straight one and was bowled!

Thereafter, Washington’s batsmen, forced to attack from the first ball, fell in a regular procession:  Elliot Bromley (2) was bowled playing an ecstatic square cut; Chad Bhaskar fell lbw for 9; Kloss was caught and bowled by the ubiquitous George Garnsworthy (3-28) for 4; Abisheck was bowled for 0, and Kripps was left high and dry with 1* to his name.

So a disappointing end to the game from a Washington perspective - all out for 202.  At the same time, it was a very good game against well-matched opposition. Perhaps, in the final analysis, as the skipper mused philosophically after the game, ‘cricket was the winner’.